733667-02-001-0018

OCR Text

Che Washington Post; SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 1987 AS —+ =. FAA Reopens, Its Inquiry « Into UFOs - Objects. Violated. "Alaskan Airspace - ren a “the decision to reopen the inquiry United Presi iterate! "1 was made by the regional director of ANCHORAGE, Jun. 3—The'Fed- | tho FAA, Steucke said, .. eral Aviation Administration Has ree An unknown objéct appeared on opened its inquiry into what hap- pened the night a Japan Air Lines Boelng 747 cargo crew reported seeing unidentified flying objects (UFOs) over Alaska, an FAA spokes man said today. FAA favessigaters Interviewed Capt. Kenju Terauchi, the pilot, for a second time Friday and are reviews ing all radar records from the eve- ning of Nov. 17, 1986, when an ur explained bilp ‘appeared on radar ° : screens as the JAL crew reported seeing mysterious lights.” radar screens monitored ia the An- | chorage Air Route Traffic Control Center, the Alaska Air Command at Elmendorf Air Force Base and ir the cockpit of the JAL plans, «: the unidentified blip as “random elute ter,” but Staucke said the FAA’s ra- thiskind of elutter, ¢ 7s ' "The reason we're exploring it 4 that it was a violation of airapace,”. FAA apokeaman ‘Paul Steucke sald. “That may sound etrange, but that’s what It was. When the tncldent firet came ti. light last week, the FAA reported . that it was no longer investigating - end considered the matter an unex- However, a thorough review of available data in the case began Fri- - day and will continue this week, - Steucke sald, noting that he is call- ig na: fgnlry, pot) Kisetiga: © tothe object of the ‘thquiry—of collecting all the data and interviews ing people—Is to identify the object, - if possible,” Steucke enld, . “However, considering the type of : data we have available, no one con- siders it realistic that we can ety ; the object,” he added. _ Air Force officials have darned’ dar system ia deaigned to remove © as