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 29 Original source ↗

“dark object”7 pages

p. 25 …bag, finding the object, all the lights were turned off, made room dark - cargo room and…
p. 31 …you had been that close to another object that large you should have got some buffetting…
p. 47 …bri1ht to eyes that were used to the dark. Bow bright it was! We were just…
p. 52 …the object was in left-hand side . . . P. Beckner Okay. T. Tamefuji . . . and very dark vision…
p. 58 …saw the objects, ah what were th~ lighting conditions outside? Was it dark ••• T. Tamefuji Hum…
p. 66 …ah, dark. P. Beckner Okay. Ah, what size would you estimate this - this object to be…
p. 76 …It was set to dark. Beckner: How long did you see the object? Tsukuba: The one…

F. Fujii (Japanese) No ah magnetic
K. Terauchi No ah no •
R. Gordon No gages, or the instruments or the RMI on everything stayed
okay, no magnetic disturbances? Okay. Ah, did the intensity of
the objects lights change? I think he just explained that didn't
he on that ah • • •
S. Mimoto (unintelligible) you mean intensity of light?
R. Gordon No on this object here, did the, did the intensity of these
lights change, and I think he just explained that, ah
F. Fujii You mean by distance, right?
R. Gordon No the intensity, the brightness of the, ah . . .
s. Mi mo to (unintelligible)
F. Fujii Did the intensity of lights change?
K. Terauchi No, it did not change.
R. Gordon They didn't change, huh?
K. Terauchi Steady, steady.
R. Gordon Okay, the intensity was steady?
K. Terauchi Yes
K. Terauchi Visibility ah, more ~lear, all the way clear, clear sky.
R. Gordon Okay • • •
K. Terauchi Clear sky
R. Gordon How about visibilty? What would you estimate, you know when
you're coming down from up there where we enter over Alaska where
you come off the sea and hit Alaska, you come up a ways and then
you can see Fairbanks out here, no problems seeing Fairbanks?
K. Terauchi When flying over Fort Yukon . . .
R. Gordon Fort Yukon, yeah.
K. Terauchi We can see ah Fairbanks and Eilsen Air Base.
R. Gordon Okay, yes, good, that's real clear, that's that's fine.
Shinbashi It was near full moon wasn't it?
13 --~

Cited by

Japan Air Lines Flight 1628: The Alaska Mothership 1986

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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.