733667-001-020-0010

OTHER

AI Summary

This document details an encounter involving Japan Airlines Flight 1628, which reported being followed by an unidentified object while flying over Alaska. The crew observed two lights and later described a large, globular craft that seemed to track their flight path. The FAA and military radar confirmed the presence of an object near the flight, leading to concerns about potential threats.

Key Findings

- The sighting began near the Alaska-Canada border with two lights. - The JAL crew reported being followed in formation while descending to 31,000 feet. - The object remained with them for approximately 50 minutes before disappearing near Talkeetna. - FAA radar initially misidentified the object as echoes of the aircraft itself but later confirmed a radar hit near the flight. - The crew described the object as a massive spaceship, the size of two aircraft carriers laid end to end.

OCR Text

ARCTIC CIRCLE rd atte ww Fai 4 WMT. MexIMLEY Talkeetna © Sar j eh. yo” ‘ . ” ler et Pees SSeS ‘ "4 ia } - a * . + ad Bes mite =, ; 7 “oh NE AL RRS Ne date on 2 & ARS ore SEY am wee TS ase ie bs . —_— eS . . & .. 0 Y + OL os ys a ~. ™ yy aoe ° : poe ty Sher ee . Sa ve ° > ake © oki eee “ws ’ ALASKA Fort Yokon > — ¥ ~ a . “Sense g THE ENCOUNTER 1. The sighting began near the border between. Alaska and Canada. Just two lights. 2. Over Fort Yukon, as the JAL crew descended to 31,000 feet, | they reported being followed In formation. 3. They turned in a circle over Fairbanks to shake whatever it was. But the object stayed with them. 4, Finally,. after. 50 minutes, it disap- peared near Talkeetna, head- ing due east toward Canada. ~ MAP BY CHARLES CHAMBERLIN { ~ Vase “ Clee ae ei “Som Hees ae sd NSULA ya J /% at < Pe - pe er * = <a , | . aaa 1 cae me 3 ins x. es nae ey ~~ i exer - a ea. Se Sate fe ew Tee ee sight: 2 GULF “OF ALASK ae represent JAL Flight No.. : 1628 as it appeared on the FAA's radar scope. At: first, the FAA said the . tiny dots next to the slashes represented another object or objects. Then, after reviewing the radar: tapes, the agency sald the images looked like “split beacons” accidental echoes of the jumbo jet itself, familiar radar quirks - that just happened to'coincide with the crew’s visual reports. 2 epee eee te re 2 re te, = + ees ——-— » UFO_ continued from previous page ROUND RADAR HADN’T registered anything near 1628, so nothing was likely to show up on the cockpit’s weaker X-band weather scope. But the captain set the distance range to 20 miles — and to his sur- prise, something popped ° ‘up. A large, green, round object, seven or eight miles away, in the direction of the thing outside his window. Henley: Japan Air 1628. Do you still have visual contact with the traffic? JAL: Affirmative... we have radar contact.... And then, so did Henley — a radar hit about five to eight miles from 1628. He radioed Elmendorf Air Force Base, and the controller there reported picking up something, too — a weak return about eight miles ahead of 1628, at 10 o’clock. It lasted a minute, minute and a half. Radio interference, and an object seeming to register on three different radar scopes. What was this? JAL: It’s, ah, I think, ah, a very quite big, ah, plane. Fort Yukon was diagonally below and to the right of 1628, and the setting sun painted the sky in a reddish stripe. The east side, the side where the objects were, was still pitch dark. We had no fears so far but began to worry, since we had no.idea for their purpose... . Up ahead they could see lights from Eielson Air Force Base and Fairbanks. The lights were extremely bright to eyes that were used to the dark. How bright it was! We were just above the bright city lights, and we checked .. . behind us. Alas! there-was a silhouette of a gigantic space- ship. We must run away quickly! JAL: Japan Air 1628. Ah, request de- scent... request three one zero. Henley: Japan... 1628 heavy. Descend at pilot discretion. ... Do you still have your traffic? JAL: Still, ah, coming, ah, ah, right formation, in, ah, formation. Henley: Japan Air 1628 heavy... devi- ations approved as necessary for traffic. When we checked our rear, there was still the ship following us.... We had to get away from that object. A globular craft with a lip around the middle, the colossal size of two aircraft carriers laid end to end. What could it possibly want — the Beaujolais? Henley: Japan Air 1628 heavy. Sir. I’m going to request you to make a right turn, three six zero degrees, three-hundred- and-sixty-degree turn. And advise me what your traffic does then. JAL: Right turn, three sixty. We... set to turn nght on a 30-degrees bank. We looked to our right forward but did not see any light. It had disappeared. We were relieved .. . Wé returned to level flight. But when we checked to our rear, the object was still there — in exactly the same place. On the ground, Carl Henley was glued to his radar scope. You’re not supposed to have unknowns in air traffic control. May 24, 1987 Se ee = ‘ = — he system relies on an unquestioned mutual trust between controller and pilot. A controller has feelings about an airplane, even though it’s just a little slash on a scope. When he’s talking to a pilot, he’s inside the cockpit with him. This 747 was reporting unidentifiable aircraft, and Henley’s job was to get him safely away. He and the other controllers assumed | they were tracking a second aircraft. , “T never thought of it as a UFO,” he would say later. VETERAN CONTROLLER SAM RICH returned from a lunch break and took over communications with the military so Henley could devote all his attention to 1628. Elmendorf radioed over that “‘on some other equipment here we have con- firmed there is a flight, size of two,” around 1628. Rich: Is he following him? Elmendort: It looks like he is, yes. Oh, God.... Henley radioed the news to JAL and as…

Metadata

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

NARA Source

NAID
733667
File
733667-001-020-0010.jpg
Type
image/jpeg

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

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