Pilot Report Unclassified Complete

733667-001-011-0040

National Archives and Records Administration

Released
Published
Added to archive
Jun 16, 2026
Department
National Archives and Records Administration
Original size
2.4 MB
External ID
d1ec0b8e947b8e8b4912e4261a1f6f8a42401a370373d9b7c8db18dbf4d57432
Confidence
85%
Credibility
90%

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Intelligence summary

This document details a personal account from Captain Kenju Terauchi regarding an unidentified aerial phenomenon observed during JAL Flight 1628 on November 17, 1986. The crew reported seeing lights that did not correspond to any known aircraft in the area, raising concerns about the nature of the sighting.

Tags & topics

Air traffic controlAviationUAP aviation incidentJapan AirlinesSightingUFO

Linked cases

Extracted timeline

Jun 15, 1986

Document Date (year hint)

Document Date (year hint) for 733667-001-011-0040

Jun 16, 2026

Ingestion Date

Ingestion Date for 733667-001-011-0040

Jun 16, 2026

Document Record Date

Document Record Date for 733667-001-011-0040

Jun 16, 2026

Update Date

Update Date for 733667-001-011-0040

Entities mentioned

Full document text

1,317 characters, transcribed via OCR. Errors reflect the source scan. Compare with the original ↗

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-p 7 We ignored the lights, thinking probably they were special missioned aircrafts or two fighters because we did not notice the lights while communication (with the Anchorage Center?) or on prior visual inspection. However, the position of the lights had not changed even after a few Minutes and that Called our attention. The First Officer, Tameto(?), called the Anchorage Center and asked to report to us if there were any aircraft other than ours inthe area. The Anchorage Center told us that there were no other aircraft in the North area. We immediately reported back that we were seeing aircraft lights. They again reported that there was no military aircraft and the Ground radar did not show any aircraft but us. They also asked us several] times if there were clouds near our altitudes. We saw thin and Spotty clouds near the mountain below us, no clouds in mid-to- upper air, and the air current was steady and conditions were quite pleasant. Perhaps the controllers were concerned that an increased use of improved lazer beams using clouds was creating moving images. [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]