Pilot Report Unclassified Complete

733667-001-011-0004

National Archives and Records Administration

Released
Published
Added to archive
Jun 16, 2026
Department
National Archives and Records Administration
Original size
2.8 MB
External ID
2c1af511943716658bace7265c592d1aae6bb53cfc83715b781a2d9d623130bb
Confidence
85%
Credibility
90%

View original document ↗ hosted at the official government source

Intelligence summary

This document contains a transcription of communications between Japan Airlines Flight 1628 and Anchorage Air Traffic Control regarding an unidentified object observed during the flight on November 18, 1986.

Tags & topics

Air traffic controlAviation SafetyUAP air traffic communicationFlight 1628Japan AirlinesUFO

Linked cases

Extracted timeline

Jun 15, 1987

Document Date (year hint)

Document Date (year hint) for 733667-001-011-0004

Jun 16, 2026

Ingestion Date

Ingestion Date for 733667-001-011-0004

Jun 16, 2026

Document Record Date

Document Record Date for 733667-001-011-0004

Jun 16, 2026

Update Date

Update Date for 733667-001-011-0004

Entities mentioned

Full document text

1,872 characters, transcribed via OCR. Errors reflect the source scan. Compare with the original ↗

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AAL-5, FAA February 4, 1987 SELECTED PORTIONS OF TRANSCRIPTION CONCERNING THE INCIDENT INVOLVING JAPAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 1628 ON NOVEMBER 18, 1986, AT APPROXIMATELY 0218 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated - November 17, 1986 Alaska Standard Time, 6:18 p.m. ) 0219:15 JL1628 Anchorage Center, Japan Air sixteen twenty eight; ah do you have any traffic, ah seven o'clock above? 0219:32 R/D15 Japan Air sixteen twenty eight heavy; negative. 0219:36 JL1628 Ah, Japan Air sixteen twenty eight; roger and, ah we insight- ah-two traffic-ah, in front of us one mile, about. 0221:19 R/D15 Japan Air sixteen twenty eight heavy; Sir if your able to identify the type of aircraft, ah-and see if you can tell whether its military or civilian. 0221:35 JL1628 Ah, Japan Air sixteen twenty eight; we cannot identify ah, | the type, ah but, ah we can see, ah navigation lights and ah, strobe lights. 0221:48 R/D15 Roger sir, say the color of the strobe and beacon lights? 0221:56 JL1628 The color is ah, - white and yellow, I think. O2ZZ3337 R/D15 Ya, could you (ROCC) look ah, approximately forty miles south of Fort Yukon, there should be a code up there of one five- five-zero. Can you tell me you see a primary target about his position? 0225:02 R/D15 Japan Air sixteen twenty eight heavy; roger. Sir, I'm picking up a-ah, hit on the radar approximately five miles in trail of your six o'clock position, do you concur? 0225:12 JL1628 Ah negative, ah eleven o'clock, ah eight miles, ah same level over. Q0225:43 ROCC Okay, I've got your squawk. It looks like I am getting some surge, primary return, ah I don't know if it's erroneous or whatever but... JL1628 = Japan Air Lines flight #1628 R15 D15 Controller position, Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center Controller position, Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (Military) Regional Operations Command Center