Incident · 17 November 1986 · Over eastern Alaska, USA
Japan Airlines flight 1628 incident
Also known as JAL 1628
On 17 November 1986, the crew of Japan Air Lines cargo flight 1628, a Boeing 747 flying from Paris to Tokyo via Anchorage, reported very large unidentified lights pacing their aircraft at 35,000 feet over eastern Alaska, for about 50 minutes by later accounts (the captain's FAA interview speaks of intervals of five to fifteen minutes). Capt. Kenju Terauchi described two smaller craft and a "mothership" he estimated at twice the size of an aircraft carrier.
Anchorage air traffic control suggested evasive action, and FAA radar data was reviewed afterwards; military radar returns were later dismissed as clutter, and two other nearby aircraft saw nothing. FAA investigators found the crew normal, professional and rational. Interviewed separately in January 1987, the first officer, Takanori Tamefuji, and the flight engineer, Yoshio Tsukuda, confirmed the first cluster of lights ahead and a green echo on the weather radar, but neither saw the giant object the captain drew, and the engineer could not tell a later light from a distant town. The FAA's John Callahan later said he briefed the radar data to officials including CIA personnel, who told those present that the meeting "never happened".
The sceptic Philip J. Klass argued the crew had mistaken the planets Jupiter and Mars, which were in the direction of the sighting, for nearby objects.
Sources: FAA interviews with Capt. Terauchi, First Officer Tamefuji and Flight Engineer Tsukuba (1987) · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- 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
- claimed The FAA's John Callahan said he briefed the data to officials, including CIA personnel, who told those present that the meeting “never happened.” — John Callahan Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 1:06:50
- 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)
- documented First Officer Takanori Tamefuji, who was flying the 747, told the FAA on 5 January 1987 that he saw the lights for about five to ten minutes, at ten or eleven o'clock and slightly low, before the object moved to the captain's side; he first took them for “two small aircraft”, but “it was too many lights”: “salmon, just like Christmas assorted”, red or orange, a white light “just like landing light” and a weak blinking green, moving in close formation and growing stronger and weaker, “different from the strobe lights”. He thought the object was larger than an aircraft. — Takanori Tamefuji Source: doc-faa-jal1628-tamefuji-interview.pdf
- documented Tamefuji said the weather radar showed a green echo, “a little bit large”, seven to eight miles away, like the echo of other traffic. Asked whether he could distinguish the lights from the stars, he answered “NNNooo...” and then “Different is fine”; shown the captain's sketch of a giant object, he said: “I don't see ah, anything like this”, adding that if the lights were connected “it will be a big object”. He concluded: “I am certain that I saw something.” — Takanori Tamefuji Source: doc-faa-jal1628-tamefuji-interview.pdf
- documented Flight engineer Yoshio Tsukuba (Tsukuda) told the FAA on 15 January 1987 that through the left window at 11 o'clock he saw lights “larger than navigation lights”: “clusters of lights were undulating”, white or amber, “shaped like windows of a passenger aircraft”, for about ten minutes, while he handed the captain his camera, which Terauchi could not operate. A second light at 9 o'clock, seen for some 30 minutes in all, was of “absolutely different nature” and “so vague”: “I am not certain whether it was lights of a distant town or a strange object.” — Yoshio Tsukuda Source: doc-faa-jal1628-tsukuba-interview.pdf
- documented Tsukuba described the radar return as “not a dot, but stream like”, at about 10 miles, and did not think it was the same as the lights ahead. He said: “I am sure that the lights that were in front of us were different from town lights. When I was interviewed here at the first time by FAA personnel, I was not sure whether the object was an UFO or not. My mind has not changed since then.” — Yoshio Tsukuda Source: doc-faa-jal1628-tsukuba-interview.pdf
Connected files
Claims
- A huge craft of unknown origin paced Japan Airlines flight 1628 over Alaska in November 1986 (subject of)
Documents
- FAA record of interview with JAL First Officer Takanori Tamefuji (JAL 1628) (documented in)
- FAA record of interview with JAL Captain Kenju Terauchi (JAL 1628) (documented in)
- FAA record of interview with JAL Flight Engineer Yoshio Tsukuba (JAL 1628) (documented in)
Events
- Disclosure Project press conference at the National Press Club (subject of)
- National Press Club panel on UFOs and aviation safety (subject of)
People
- John Callahan (investigated by)
- Kenju Terauchi (witnesses)
- Takanori Tamefuji (witnesses) — First officer of JAL 1628, flying the 747 when the crew first saw the lights
- Yoshio Tsukuda (witnesses) — Flight engineer of JAL 1628
Videos
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Pilots & Aviation Experts (discussed in)
- Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event (discussed in)
- JAL 1628 archive compilation: 1987 news report, Nippon TV reconstruction and John Callahan (Eyes On Cinema) (subject of)
- National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters (discussed in)
Mentioned in this file
- Boeing (Organization)
- Central Intelligence Agency (Organization)
Mentioned in documents and records
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