Package compiled for FAA managers

FAA via National Archives / The Black Vault · 122 pages · text from the file's own layer

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.

Open the PDF at page 23 Original source ↗

“red lights”10 pages

p. 23 …it shows red ••• K. Terauchi Yes, yes R. Gordon So it's light green, maybe the…
p. 45 …We eaid that we could see a light in the 10 o'clock position at the…
p. 46 …were lights increasing from the U.S. Military Eielson Air Force Base and Fairbanks. The lights…
p. 56 …Tamefuji ••• and ah, I remember, red or orange, hum, and a white landing light, just like…
p. 58 …dark, dark red. P. Beckner Dark red, okay. r. Tamefuji But almost dark I must say…
p. 76 …The lights in front of us were clusters of lights like this. I think they were…
p. 88 …The lights were yellow, amber, and green, rut no red. 'ttle lights were in tw:::> seperate…
p. 94 …amber and green lights, and a rotating beacxm, but oo red lights. The captain said there…
p. 116 …red, green, and blue light are combined to fonn white light. This is the approach conm1only…
p. 121 …less) optical axis that remains de!M!red pixels per units: ( unit less) appropriately chosen In…

R. Gordon Digital color?
K. Terauchi Yes colored, digital
R. Gordon Okay, fine, yeah, that's all we need! I don't need to know
numbers. Ah did the target appear on the radar as unusual or; or
solid target or intermitt •.•
F. Fujii Was it clear?
K. Terauchi Clearly, clearly
R. Gordon Very clearly
K. Terauchi But, ah, ah, strong, ah return signal is strong in case of a
storm, show ah red, and next yellow.
R. Gordon Okay
? The, but weak is green . . .
R. Gordon Right.
K. Terauchi So ah is green light.
R. Gordon It showed green . . .
K. Terauchi Green
R. Gordon Okay, yeah, that's, that's where even some of the stuff could get
through it, like when you take a picture of a cloud on the
radar • • •
K. Terauchi Oh yeah •
R. Gordon If it's green, but if it's got heavy rain in it or thunderstorm
in it then it shows red •••
K. Terauchi Yes, yes
R. Gordon So it's light green, maybe the waves can go through this thing.
Okay so it showed green on the radar, on the color radar.
F. Fujii When did you pick it up, the radar?
K. Terauchi Time? Time?
F. Fujii Time, is it by time, when?
R. Gordon Oh after, how long after you saw it with your eyes did you pick
it up on the radar?
K. Terauchi Okay ah, um seven minutes, five minute, makes it twelve minutes,
so, ah, fifteen minutes after contact.
7 -- r

Cited by

Japan Air Lines Flight 1628: The Alaska Mothership 1986

About this file

Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 122 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.