Pilot Report
Unclassified Complete
733667-001-011-0045
National Archives and Records Administration
Confidence
85%
Credibility
90%
View original document ↗ hosted at the official government source
Intelligence summary
This document is a personal statement from Captain Kenju Terauchi regarding the sighting of unidentified aerial phenomena during Japan Airlines Flight 1628 on November 17, 1986. The statement describes the positioning of unidentified ships in relation to the aircraft and the visual conditions during the sighting.
Tags & topics
Linked cases
Locations referenced
| Location | Context | Confidence | Supporting text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eielson Air Force Base | Military Location | Unresolved | …ed in front of us a few minutes ago. It seemed that we were flying in the lighter side and gave them the advantage of being on the dark side. We had no fears’ |
Extracted timeline
Jun 15, 1986
Document Date (year hint)
Document Date (year hint) for 733667-001-011-0045
Jun 16, 2026
Ingestion Date
Ingestion Date for 733667-001-011-0045
Jun 16, 2026
Document Record Date
Document Record Date for 733667-001-011-0045
Jun 16, 2026
Update Date
Update Date for 733667-001-011-0045
Entities mentioned
Full document text
1,496 characters, transcribed via OCR. Errors reflect the source scan. Compare with the original ↗
-p 12°
When they were in front of us, the ships were positioned
slightly higher din altitude than we were, but now they placed
themselves slightly below the horizon where it was most difficult
for us to see. The distance between us was still about seven
miles to eight miles visually. When we started to see Ft. Yukon
diagonally below us at the right, the sun was setting down in the
Southwest, painting the sky in a slightly red stripe,
approximately two to three millimeters and gave a bit of light
but the east side was still pitch dark. Far in front of us there:
were lights increasing from the U.S. Military Eielson Air Force
Base and Fairbanks. The lights were still following us at
exactiy the same distance; however, it was too dark to identify
by only the lights whether or not they were the same two
spaceships that appeared in front of us a few minutes ago. It
seemed that we were flying in the lighter side and gave them the
advantage of being on the dark side. We had no fears’ so far but
began to worry since we had no idea for their purpose. When the
lights from the Eielson Air Force Base and Fairbanks became clear
and bright, two very bright lights appeared suddenly from the
North from a belt of lights, perhaps four or five mountains away.
[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]