Pilot Report Unclassified Complete

733667-001-011-0042

National Archives and Records Administration

Released
Published
Added to archive
Jun 16, 2026
Department
National Archives and Records Administration
Original size
2.6 MB
External ID
9bea966db23d5a9e831f6cd8a0da5bd22b5667047824238040655d23758cab99
Confidence
85%
Credibility
90%

View original document ↗ hosted at the official government source

Intelligence summary

A personal account by Captain Kenju Terauchi detailing an encounter with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) during a flight on November 17, 1986. The report describes the appearance and behavior of the UFOs, including their lights and movements.

Tags & topics

AviationPilot AccountsUFO sightings aviation incidentFlight 1628Kenju TerauchiUAPUFO

Linked cases

Extracted timeline

Jun 15, 1986

Document Date (year hint)

Document Date (year hint) for 733667-001-011-0042

Jun 16, 2026

Ingestion Date

Ingestion Date for 733667-001-011-0042

Jun 16, 2026

Document Record Date

Document Record Date for 733667-001-011-0042

Jun 16, 2026

Update Date

Update Date for 733667-001-011-0042

Entities mentioned

Full document text

1,519 characters, transcribed via OCR. Errors reflect the source scan. Compare with the original ↗

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~p 9- It was about seven or so minutes’since we began paying attention to the lights, most unexpectedly two spaceships stopped in front of our face, shooting off lights. The inside cockpit shined brightly and I felt warm in the face. Perhaps firing of Jets was the result to kill inertia of their quick high speed maneuver, but the ships appeared as if they were Stopped in one place in front of us. Then three to seven seconds later a fire like from jet engines stopped and became a smal] Circle of lights as they began to fly in level flight at the same Speed as we were, showing numerous numbers of exhaust pipes. However, the center area of the ship where below an engine might be was invisible. The middle of the bedy of the ship sparked an occasionally stream of lights, like a charcoal fire, from right to left and from left to right. Its shape was a square, flying 900 feet to 1000 feet in front of us, very slightly higher in altitude than us, its size was about the same size as the body of a DC-8 jet, and with numerous exhaust pipes. The firing of the exhaust jets varied, perhaps to maintain balance, some became stronger than others and some became weaker than others, but seemed controlled automatically. We did not feel threatened or in danger because the spaceship [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]