733667-001-024

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FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION ALASKAN REGION 701 C Street, Anchorage, Alaska, 99513 DECEMBER 30, 1986 CONTACT: PAUL STEUCKE, FAA, PUBLIC A FF AI RS, ALASKA ( 9 0 7) 2 7 1 -5.2 9 6 The fol lowing information constructed from personal handwritten notes, has been provided to Paul Steucke, FAA Public Affairs Officer, Alaskan Region, by Jim Derry, Manager, FAA Security Division, Alaskan Region, and constitutes the information obtained in personal interviews held the evening of Novmber 17, 1986, at Anchorage Internati anal Airport, with the flight crew of Japan Air Lines f Ii ght 1628, enroute from Europe and I eel and/ to Toyko, vi a Anchorage, Alaska. A t t end i n g t he i n t er v i e w we r e : J i m D·e r r y , Ma n a g er , Sec u r i t y Di vision, FAA: Ron Mickle, Investigator, FAA Security: Jack IN r i g ht , I n vest i g at or , FA A F 1 i g ht St and a r d s Di s t ·r i ct 0 f f i c e, t he Manager of the JAL Anchor age Off i ce: and the f I i ght er ew - Captain Kenjyu Terauchi.; First Officer Takonori Tamefuj i; and Flight Engineer Yoshi o Tsukuda. The interviews were in response to the sighting of unknown and uni denti fi ed air traffic which accompanied the flight from the Al a$ka Canadian border on the north along a flight pl an which flows approximate! y from Ft. Yukon, Alaska, to Fairbanks, to Anchorage. NOTES: * FL! GHT NUMBER JAL 1628, Dep. Reykjavik, I eel and. * ADI Z, HL529 ... J529 ••. (Airway numbers) Contact at POTAT() * Visual contact.. can see FA!, over FAI did 360 degrees. * S. MJ-125, Route cont i nued .•. J Page two, JAL #1628, Notes, FAA, Alaska * * * * * * * * * * * * Used onboard color radar, located aircraft, 7 miles. Size: "As big as 8747 or larger, erratic movement." Lights: Yel I ow, Amber, Green, No red. Rot-at i ng Beacon. Many small lights. One object, two sets of Ii ghts. Speed of JAL B747: . 84 Mach, ( Ap-proxi mate! y 525 knots) ATC (Air Traffic Control) picked up target. Target broke off ---40 N of TKA-(Talkeetna) Radio: Received static only in VHF mode. (Abnormal) JAL aircraft on instrument navigation. Flight Crew observation: Normal, professional, ·rational, no drug or al coho! involvement. Drawings of situation provided by Captain. Normal language difficulty between flight crew and interviewer. **Note: Exact conversion to mph or knts is difficult as it varies due to eve! ati on (air density), weather, wind, etc. ) END. J I I U.S Department Of TronsportotiOn Federal Aviation Administration FOR RELEASE ON MARCH 5 , 1987 1187-09 News: Office of Public Attars Alaskan Region 701 C Street. Box 14 Anchorage. Alaska 995 13 (907) 271-5296 CONTACT: PAUL STEUCKE FM REI .E:A$f$ DOCUl£HIS ON REPORTED UFO SIGHTING LAST NOYEMBER The Federal Aviation Administration today released documents relating to the reported sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) over Alaska by a Japan Air Lines flight crew on November 17, 1986, saying it was unable to confirm the event. The material was issued by FAA's Regional Office in Anchorage, Alaska, and included transcripts of pilot-controller corrmunications, interviews with controllers and the flight crew, radar plots and other data. FAA's Regional Public Affairs Officer Paul Steucke pointed out that FAA normally does not investigate UFO sightings but pursued the JAL incident in its role as the operator of the air traffic control system. He said the agency's objective was to determine if there was an unreported aircraft in the vicinity of the JAL flight that could present a safety hazard. As part of the inquiry, Steucke said, radar data of the JAL flight track was reviewed by FAA experts at the agency's Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., using identical equipment. They determined that a second radar target near the JAL flight at the time of the reported sighting was not another aircraft but rather a split radar return from the JAL Boeing 747. Technically, this is known as an "uncorrelated primary and beacon target return.'' It means that the primary radar signal reflected off the aircraft's surface did not correlate exactly with the pulse e~itted by the aircraft's radar beacon transponder. This phenomenon is not unusual and gives the impression of two separate radar targets. Steucke also noted that FAA controllers who monitored the JAL aircraft said in their statements that they thought there might have been another aircraft because of the dual radar targets. However, a northbound United Air Lines jet that was diverted by controllers to intercept the JAL flight path did establish visual contact with that aircraft but the pilots saw nothing else. The Nov. 17 UFO sighting was reported by JAL Captain Kenjyu Terauchi on a cargo flight over the polar cap from Iceland to Japan via Anchorage. Captain Terauchi said he had visual contact from approximately the U.S.-Canadian border to south of Fairbanks. On Jan. 11, 1987, Capt…