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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.
“Fairbanks”17 pages
~Page 10~ moved ao suddenly. We probably would have felt more in dangez and would have been prepared to escape if the epaceships were ehakin& unsteadily or were unable to atop themselves. It ie impossible for any man-made machine to make a sudden appearance in front of a jumbo jet that is flying 910 kilometers per hour and to move along in a formation paralleling our aircraft. The ships moved in formation for about three to five minutes, then two ships moved forward in a line, aaain slightly hi&her i~ altitude as we were, 40 degrees to our left. We did not report this action to the Anchorage Center. Honestly, we were simply· breathtaken. The VHF communication, both in transmitting and receivi~g were extremely difficult for ten or fifteen minutes I while the little ships came close to us and often interfered with communication from the Anchorage Center; however, communication conditions became just as good as soon as the ships left us. There were no abnormalities in the equipment or the aircraft. I have no idea why they came so close to us. Then again, there was a pale white flat light on the direction where the ships flew away, moving in a line along with us, in the same direction and same speed and in the same altitude as we were. [Personal statement concerning JAL Flight 1628 sighting of unidentified air traffic, Nov. 17, 1986. Written by Capt. Kenju Terauchi; translated by Sayoko Mimoto, FAA Alaskan Region, Airway Facilities Division. Received by FAA 1/2/87] i
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