733667-001-011-0039

PILOT REPORT

AI Summary

This document details a personal account from Captain Kenju Terauchi regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon encountered during Japan Airlines Flight 1628 on November 17, 1986, while flying over Alaska.

Key Findings

- The incident occurred at approximately 35,000 feet altitude. - The aircraft was flying at a speed of 900-910 km/h. - An unidentifiable light was observed ahead of the aircraft after receiving flight instructions. - Lights resembling aircraft lights were seen 30 degrees to the left, moving in the same direction and speed as Flight 1628. - The communication with Anchorage Center began at 5:05 p.m.

OCR Text

~p a Anchorage Center when we _ reach above Pottat(sp?) where Alaska Territorial Air begins. Pottat locates approximately 480 miles, approximately 890 kilometers, North-northeast of Anchorage, 67 degrees 56 minutes North Latitude, 141 degrees West Longitude. We began the communication with the Anchorage Center about 5:05 p.m. The flight course we had acknowledged was Jet 529, direct to Ft. Yukon and Jet 125 via Nenana, Talkeetna, Chaiger (sp?), and to Anchorage. The Anchorage Center ordered us to fly direct to Talkeetna, provided us transponder codes and placed us on a radar scope at the same time. The strange phenomenon happened immediately after we began left rotation, following the order of taking the direct flight course. There was an unidentifiable light ahead of the rotation. We set the course toward Talkeetna and began level flight. Then we saw lights that looked like aircraft lights, 30 degrees left front, 2,000 feet (600 meters) below us, moving exactly in the same direction and with the same speed as we were. We were at the altitude of 35,000 feet (10,600 meters), flying speed was 900 kilometer per hour to 910 kilometer per hour. [Personal statement concerning JAL Flight 1628 sighting of unidentified air traffic, Nov. 17, 1986. Written by Capt. Kenju Terauchi; translated by Sayoko Mimoto, FAA Alaskan Region, Airway Facilities Division. Received by FAA 1/2/87]

Metadata

Agency
—
Classification
UNCLASSIFIED
Department
National Archives and Records Administration
Confidence85
Credibility90

NARA Source

NAID
733667
File
733667-001-011-0039.jpg
Type
image/jpeg

No machine-readable OCR text for this asset. Photographs without captions may have no extractable text.

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