Documents / Hearing transcript

Terauchi interview transcript, Dick Gordon, 2 Jan 1987

FAA via National Archives / The Black Vault · 20 pages · text from the file's own layer

This FAA record of interview documents a January 2, 1987 session in Anchorage, Alaska, in which Inspector Richard O. Gordon of FSDO-63 questioned JAL Captain Kenju Terauchi about his crew's November 17, 1986 sighting. Terauchi describes two small craft with exhaust-like lights that flew near his aircraft and a much larger mothership, and says the target appeared green on his onboard radar. He also reports VHF interference and says the objects matched his 360-degree turn and his descent.

Open the PDF at page 14 Original source ↗

“The Times”11 pages

  • p. 2 …Terauchi No, third time . R. Gordon This is the third time that ah that you've…
  • p. 3 …Terauchi Big Ship - yes and the second time ah, the, in my home I saw a…
  • p. 4 …Terauchi I think it was the first time. F . Fujii Who was the first person who…
  • p. 5 …Fujii From the forward you could see the flame and the exhaust and flame were surrounding…
  • p. 6 …This one and this one, the same logic, this point and this point are the same…
  • p. 8 …Fujii When did you pick it up, the radar? K. Terauchi Time? Time? F. Fujii Time…
  • p. 9 …Autopilot stayed on all the time. K. Terauchi Yeah • R. Gordon Okay K. Terauchi Working good…
  • p. 12 …Terauchi See this is the jumbo jet. 1.5, two times this light. R. Gordon Okay…
  • p. 13 …Gordon Yeah, let's see what would you estimate the size of the small ships to…
  • p. 18 …Gordon Yes, yes, you could probably explain that with the thing you have drawn here. Now…
  • p. 20 …See if they were stacked together at the beginning, one must have returned to the mothership…
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. Mimoto (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 clear, 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?
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Hearing transcript, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 20 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.