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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.

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“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…
K. Terauchi A no, seven, seven or eight miles.
R. Gordon Okay seven or eight miles, that's what they were saying on the
radar.
K. Terauchi Yeah, this later, so we saw about seven or eight miles ...
R. Gordon Okay
K. Terauchi And, 60 degrees left .•.
R. Gordon Okay
K. Terauchi So out in here small ship is disappear.
R. Gordon Okay, I understand, now lets (unintelligible) what else, see if I
forget anything, visual was a first, what, you showed me exactly
what you saw. Visually sighting, you saw it first uh?
K. Terauchi First
R. Gordon Okay
F. Fujii And (unintelligible) probably how long had you contacted the
target.
R. Gordon No that's what we were saying, five to six minutes before you
called ATC.
K. Terauchi Ye~h, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.
R. Gordon Okay, did the other crew have trouble sighting the object?
F. Fujii Did the rest of the crew see the lights?
K. Terauchi (More Japanese) So I tried to fix it, but I ah, failed.
Laughter
K. Terauchi Just, shutter was open, did not close, so •••
F. Fujii Yes every crew has seen it.
R. Gordon Okay all the crew members they did see it. Okay. Laughter •..
Yeah that's what I would do (more laughter)
F. Fujii What type of onboard radar?
R. Gordon Yeah, what type of radar was onboard, that ah ?
K. Terauchi It was the kind, ditigal, but I don not know.
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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.