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News clippings

FAA via National Archives / The Black Vault · 51 pages · text from the file's own layer

This FAA file, released through the National Archives and The Black Vault, collects 1987 newspaper clippings about Japan Air Lines Flight 1628. Capt. Kenju Terauchi reported that lights and a huge walnut-shaped object followed his 747 cargo jet over Alaska on November 17, 1986. The articles quote FAA spokesman Paul Steucke saying the radar returns were a split image and military clutter, and report Philip Klass's explanation that Terauchi saw Jupiter and Mars. Terauchi's second sighting in January was attributed to village lights reflecting off ice crystals.

Open the PDF at page 35 Original source ↗

“FAA”31 pages

  • p. 2 …he fell faa asleep shortly after' .i-' J !"? li takeoff. , that I pidd hemclearly and. which…
  • p. 4 …showed a tiny ball, Terauchi radioed the FAA flight control, center in An chorage. Three controllers…
  • p. 8 …The FAA and the military in Alaska use the same long-range radar in Fairbanks, Steucke…
  • p. 10 …the FAA spokesman in Anchorage, said his agency is continuing its in vestigation Into the incident…
  • p. 11 …1987 JAL pilot sees lights In the sky Object doesn't show on military, FAA radar…
  • p. 12 …The JAL crew members were interviewed by the FAA upon ar rival in Anchorage. Steucke said…
  • p. 13 FAA can't explain lights in the north The Associated Press The Federal Aviation Ad* ministration…
  • p. 15 …Steucke has said that neither the military \ nor the FAA puts any faith in the early…
  • p. 16 …But the UFO sighting re mained a mystery, with FAA and Air Force sources saying it…
  • p. 17 ubiic interest spurs on FAA's UFO investigation /-5-77-;Associated Press he Federal Aviation Ad…
  • p. 18 …Radar tapes, transcribed interviews and radio messages are to be sent to the FAA in Washington…
  • p. 19 …Air Force officlalB have dlimiaied the Unidentified blipaa "random clut ter," but Steucke laid the FAA…
  • p. 20 …That controller, :whose name has not been r^eased by the FAA,.mistak enly interpreted a…
  • p. 24 …told investigators two of the lights were'"' FAA'^ln' Washington;'^^b.C,v, laterr-smaU^ peihapsnd…
  • p. 25 …origins.'-He',T:--inand initially told the FAA in prasslceoun?s^ information M.;see tha object…
  • p. 29 …The FAA has discounted the possi bility that Terauchi might haye halluci nated the whole experience…
  • p. 30 …But when radar tapes covering the period were replayed by FAA investiga tors, Steucke says, the…
  • p. 35 …Everything but a conclu sion. *"The FAA does not have enough The FAA originally said radar…
  • p. 36 …The FAA did not have ground radar coverage in the McGrath area, so there was no…
  • p. 40 …Orders continue to roll In despite the FAA's conclusion-in a separate report thatcosts nothing…
  • p. 41 …J that itfwas alviblatioa of-aiispacei'^ik FAA spokesinafli^ul Stetickesi'saiA^ That may sound stran…
  • p. 42 …gUw color-*', photos ofreg^eratedradar(tote. ^ Theipinanfli FAA'mail-brdd' offer is ah effortto cope withenormous…
  • p. 43 2A FAA Selling Tapes, Drawings On UFOIncidentsighting. Orders of less than $5 are free* Information requMte…
  • p. 44 …PaulSteucke, a spokesmanfor the FAA inAnchorage, said that Terauchi told FAA officials in an interview that…
  • p. 45 …La Agencta Federal de Aviacidn (FAA) concedid el permiso, dando las instruccio- nes del caso. El…
  • p. 46 …He radioed the sighting to Anchorage FAA flight controllers; who saw what they thought wasan objecton…
  • p. 47 …The unusual FAA mail-order offer Is an attempt to cope with enormous public interest inthe…
  • p. 48 …fli^trcreiy (aX^JOpent'copy ofah ;f-.FAA^t coping • I iV^'^ .heavy pi^Uc intCT…
  • p. 49 …Although the Air Force radar briefly picked up'a second ob ject, Steucke said, FAA control…
  • p. 50 …as "clutter," and a blip- appeared on FAA screens was considered a co-' incidental "split image…
  • p. 51 …Ihe FAA controller who monitored the JAL plane, Flight 1628, reported tracking the UFOs several times…
Mfel mO EDItlOHl p Pornography and coBiimunity standard^
Natibnalteam
UAA
Anchorage Daily News•65 96 PAGES ANCHORAGE. ALASKA. FRIDAY. MARCH 6.1987
lit THE SKY
• Anawraga Oaiy Nftw/Mictiaal Peim
FAA qwkcsman PiulSttueiw waits ts rsportsrs rsad his sgtney's findings sbout thsJAL pilot's sighting ofa UFO.
FAA has no conclusion about UFOBy HAL BERNTON
Oaiy News reporter
Tlie Federal Aviation Administra
tion Unirsday released the results of its
investigation of the celebrated Nov. 17
sighting of UFOs by a Japanese Air
I^es crew. There was first-person tes
timony from the JAL crew members,
statements from controllers and reams
of radar data. Everything but a conclu
sion.
*"The FAA does not have enough
The FAA originally said radar data
confirmed a UFO sighting in the area.
But after a lengthy review of tapes, the
agency determined that three control
lers on duty that day were mistaken —
the radar did not pick up an object.
However, reporters who flock^ to
the press conference from as far away
as Japan and Philadelphia did not go
away empty-handed. Each received a
free copy of the FAA's anthology of the
event, a thick packet^" of documents.
flying over McGrath. As two pilots
examined a weather radar, they notic^
a "target" out in front of them.
"Up at our altitude, (35.000 feet)...
you haven't had any" UFO reports
lately?" one of the pilots radioed the
FAA controller.
The crew reported the target quickly
moved off their radar screen' at an
estimated speed of 300 miles a minute.
They reset their screen from a SO-mile
to a 100-mile radius. Thev brieflv snied
PRICE 25 C

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Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 51 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.