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The Associated Press The Federal Aviation Ad- ministration said Tuesday it couldn't explain strange flashing lights which spooked the crew members of a Japan Air Lines 747 cargo plane as it flew over northern Alaska - last month. “We are not investigating as there is nothing to investi- gate,’” said Paul Steucke, FAA spokesman in Anchor- e. He said the military has been unable — or unwilling — to provide any information to explain the incident. ‘They're * saying nothing,’ Steucke said. The incident began at 6:19 | Continued from Page A-1 center, and asked if there was any reported traffic in the vicinity. A controller replied that there was no known traf- fic in the area, but that he had an unidentified blip on his radar. Steucke said a subsequent review of the radar tapes did not reveal any such object, but that the controller in- sisted it was there. As the lights continued to pace the 747, the pilot re quested permission to change - altitude. As he descended to 31,000 feet, the lights fol- lowed ‘‘in formation," Steucke said. The pilot then requested permission to make a 360-de- gree turn to see if the lights would follow. Upon complet- ing the maneuver, the pilot reported losing contact with the lights. Steucke said radar opera- tors in Fairbanks picked “up nothing on their screens in e FAA can’t explain lights in the north p.m. on Noy. 17 as the JAL plane was headed for Anchor- age on a flight from Europe, via Iceland, on its way to Tokyo. As the aircraft entered U.S. airspace at the junction of the Canadian border and the Beaufort Sea, the pilot reported seeing unusual white and yellow flashing lights. The lights were approxi- mately 8 miles away, at the same altitude of 35,000 feet and traveling ‘at the same speed and in the same direc- tion as the JAL plane, the Pilot reported. Steucke said the pilot called the air traffic control See Back Page, LIGHTS the vicinity of the JAL flight. And he said a United Airlines flight headed toward Fair- banks spotted the JAL plane, but saw nothing else in the sky nearby. Military authorities were notified of the sighting within a few minutes of the initial report, but it’s not known what — if anything — they did about it, Steucke said. The JAL crew members ’ were interviewed by the FAA upon arrival in Anchorage. Steucke said: they all ap- peared. to be “well-trained, professional, rational and not “affected by drugs or alcohol.” He said all three reported that the blinking lights ac- ‘companied their plane for about 50. miles across the northern Alaska sky. The en- tire incident lasted about 30 minutes, Steucke said. As for the time lag since the incident, Steucke said: “We didn't exactly broadcast dt until the news media dug it up.”” | Wednesday, December 31, 1986 Anchorage Daily News 1