SUBJECT: 11/86 JAPAN AIRLINE UFO REPORT FILE: UFO1357
Report #: 203
From: UFO INFO SERVICE
Date Sent: 12-31-1986
Subject: ANCHORAGE, AK
CASE TYPE: RV *
DATE: 17 NOVEMBER 1986
TIME: 18:19 HOURS
CFN#: 0325
DURATION: 20:MINUTES
WITNESSES: THREE
SOURCE: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A mysterious unidentified flying object with flashing
white and yellow strobe lights followed a Japan Air Lines cargo jet across the
Arctic Circle, the crew says.
The three-man crew radioed air traffic controllers in Anchorage that a huge
UFO was flying "in formation" with them and the Air Force briefly confirmed
and object near the plane, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Paul
Steucke.
He said the FAA in Anchorage and Fairbanks did not pick up the object. The
incident occurred Nov.17 but was not made public earlier.
Flight 1628 had left Reykjavik, Iceland, flying over the North Pole to Tokyo
with a stop in Anchorage. When it landed at Anchorage, FAA security manager
Jim Derry interviewed the pilot, Co-pilot and flight engineer. When the
report was made to the Air Route Traffic Control Center at 6:19 p.m., Steucke
said controllers tried to find the object on radar but "were unable to comfirm
a second target with our equipment."
At 6:26 p.m. Steucke said the Air Force told the FAA it "saw a second target
(object) 8 miles away (from the JAL jet) but they contacted us a minute later
and said they were no longer receiving any radar return (of a second object)."
Steucke added, "At 6:32 the JAL pilot requested and received permission for a
descent from 35,000 feet to 31,000." Air controllers asked if the lights were
still there, and were told, "It is descending in formation." At 6:39 p.m.,20
minutes after the lights first reported, the JAL crew said it no longer saw
the lights.
At 6:45 p.m. Fairbanks controllers authorized a United Airlines northbound jet
to make a 10 degree turn to better view the JAL plane and asked the United
crew if it saw anything besides the Boeing 747. It did not. Nor did the JAL
crew see the lights again.
Report #: 205
From: UFO INFO SERVICE
Date Sent: 01-11-1987
Subject: ANCHORAGE, AK
CASE TYPE: RV - RADAR VISUAL
DATE: 17 NOVEMBER 1986
TIME: 1819 HOURS
CFN#: 0327
DURATION: 20: MINUTES
WITNESSES: THREE
SOURCE: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
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FAA says UFO on radar screen was just a double image of jet
United Press International
ANCHORAGE - Federal investigators say a review of radar tapes failed to show a
UFO shadowing a Japan Air Lines cargo jet, contradicting reports made by the
crew and the air-traffic controller who handled the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration's examination of the tapes shows what
appears to be a second object near JAL Flight 1628 on Nov. 17, but
investigators now think it is a double image from the Boeing 747, FAA spokes-
man Paul Steucke said yesterday.
On Dec. 29 the FAA released details of the UFO sighting, revealing the
flight controller handling the jet saw an object on radar five miles from the
plane. The Anchorage Air Route Traffice Control Center directed the crew to
take evasive maneuvers, including a 4,000-foot drop and a 360 degree turn.
Co-pilot Takanori Tamefuji, 39, said yesterday he did not know why the FAA
first confirmed a nearby object and now dismisses it as an image of the 747.
In his second interview with the FAA Tuesday, Tamefuji reiterated that he
saw lights, and Steucke said, "The co-pilot's testimony supported the
pilot's."
Although the FAA is satisfied with the double-image explanation, the inquiry
is continuing with interviews of the crew and a review of data, Steucke said.
Steucke said the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer have told the same
story: Blinking yellow, amber and green lights appeared too close to their
plane for comfort.
The FAA says the controller apparently misinterpreted what he saw on his
screen. But Steucke defended the controller's response, saying, "He had a
pilot tell him he was seeing something right there. This is not something
where he can take a risk even if it is a double image."
The radar image seen in the JAL cockpit and by the controller also appeared
intermittently on Air Force radar. Air Force spokesmen dismissed it as
"random clutter."
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