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This package was compiled by the FAA Alaskan Region Public Affairs Office in Anchorage and sent to FAA managers with a memo from Paul Steucke dated March 5, 1987. It gathers material on the November 17, 1986 sighting by the crew of Japan Air Lines flight 1628: a news release, pilot and controller transcripts, crew interviews and radar analysis. The FAA concluded that it could not confirm the event. It attributed the second radar target to a split, uncorrelated return from the JAL Boeing 747 and planned no further investigation.
“Gordon”20 pages
Paul Steucke, FAA Alaskan Region 701 C St . Box 14 Anc h. AK 99513 March 5, 1987 UNIDENI'IFIED AIR TRAFFIC SIGHI'INGS, ALASKA (1 ) An Alaska Airlines flight crew of a Boeing 737 aircraft, flight k~3, enroute from Nome to Anchorage, Alaska, on January 29, 1987, reported to the FAA Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center, the sighting of unidentified air traffic on their onboard weather radar system. The incident occurred at about 6:39 pm, 60 rr:iles west of the community of McGrath, which is approximately 200 miles northwest of Anchorage. The aircraft was flying at 35 ,000 feet altitude at night, and the weather was clear. Both pilots noticed the target on their weather radar scope and looked out the window to see if there was any "traffic" in front of them. At no time did either crewmember see anything outside the aircraft. The area is not within radar coverage of the FAA and the military reported they did not have any aircraft operating in the area at the time. The flight crew of the Alaska Airlines passenger aircraft reported that the target on their radar moved at a very high rate of speed, approximately 5 miles on each sweep of the radar (5 miles per second). As the target moved off their radar in front of them, they changed the range of their radar from 50 miles to 100 miles and saw the target briefly before it became lost in the ground clutter created by the Alaska Range of mountains. The flight crew was i nterviewed by FAA inspectors when they landed at Anchorage. The FAA has no opinions or conclusions regarding the sighting. (2 ) On January 11, 1987, at approximately 7:30 am (Sunday), Captain Kenjyu Terauchi , piloting Japan Airlines flight #628, a Boeing 747 aircraft from Iceland to Japan via Anchorage, Alaska, reported to the FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center in Anchorage, that he was seeing a group of unusual lights in f r ont of his aircraft. more • ..
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