Claim

A huge craft of unknown origin paced Japan Airlines flight 1628 over Alaska in November 1986

Also known as JAL 1628 claim

Disputed. The FAA said in March 1987 that it was “unable to confirm the event”; its former accidents chief John Callahan says the radar showed a target beside the 747 and that the CIA told officials the briefing “never happened”. (source)

On 17 November 1986 the three-man crew of a Japan Airlines 747 cargo flight reported very large lights pacing their aircraft for about 50 minutes over Alaska; the captain later described a craft the size of an aircraft carrier.

Who has said it, in order

  1. January 1987 — says so, documented: The crew of a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 cargo flight reported very large unidentified lights pacing their aircraft over Alaska; in his FAA interview Capt. Terauchi describes the lights at intervals of about five to fifteen minutes. FAA radar data was reviewed afterwards. Source: doc-faa-jal1628-terauchi-interview.pdf
  2. 5 March 1987 — disputes it, documented: The FAA's Alaskan Region news release of 5 March 1987 said the agency was “unable to confirm the event”: experts replaying the radar data at the Atlantic City technical center determined that the second target near the JAL flight was not another aircraft but “a split radar return from the JAL Boeing 747”, an “uncorrelated primary and beacon target return”. Source: documents.theblackvault.com (archived)
  3. 9 May 2001 John Callahan — says so, relayed: John Callahan, retired FAA division manager for accidents and investigations, describes the JAL 1628 radar data being briefed to President Reagan's science staff, CIA and FBI, and a CIA man saying “this meeting never happened.” Source: Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event at 14:26
  4. 12 November 2007 John Callahan — says so, relayed: John Callahan, former FAA accidents and investigations division chief, on the 1986 Japan Airlines 1628 case: “an event that never happened.” Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 1:06:50
  5. 29 April 2013 John Callahan — says so, first-hand: Callahan says he had all the radar data and voice tapes flown to the FAA Technical Center, where the controller's scope was replayed in sync with the tapes and he filmed the screen. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Pilots & Aviation Experts at 4:35
  6. 29 April 2013 John Callahan — context, first-hand: Callahan tells Bartlett that only the three JAL crew saw the craft, while about 23 people at the FAA reviewed the radar track. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Pilots & Aviation Experts at 1:01:30
  7. 29 April 2013 John Callahan — context, first-hand: Callahan: the FAA's hardware engineers blamed the target beside the 747 on software, and the software engineers blamed hardware. “If it's not a hardware problem and it's not a software problem then what the hell is it?” Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Pilots & Aviation Experts at 1:04:30
  8. 13 February 2023 Kenju Terauchi — says so, first-hand: In archive footage Captain Terauchi explains his sketch: “This is just a small space ship … This one is the size of the carrier, so a mothership.” Source: JAL 1628 archive compilation: 1987 news report, Nippon TV reconstruction and John Callahan (Eyes On Cinema) at 0:10

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