This is the complete report on the UFO sighting by the Japanese crew of a jumbo freighter aircraft in November 1986. This sighting gained international attention when the FAA announced that it was going to officially investigate this sighting because the Air Route Traffic Control Center in Anchorage, Alaska, had reported that the UFO had been detected on radar. Captain Terauchi was featured on numerous radio and TV programs and in People Magazine. Within a few months of these events he was grounded, apparently for his indiscretion of reporting a UFO, even though he was a senior captain with an excellent flying record. Several years later he was reinstated. What you are about to read is the most complete and analytical investigation of this sighting ever published. (Numbers in parentheses refer to footnotes at the end of the paper.)
When the FAA announced that it was going to investigate, the airplane captain, Kenju Terauchi became a media star. He was featured on numerous radio and TV programs and in People Magazine. Unfortunately his career suffered for his indescretion of reporting a UFO. Within a few months of these events he was grounded, even though he was a senior captain with an excellent flying record. Several years later he was reinstated.
What you are about to read is the most complete and analytical investigation of this sighting ever published. (This was originally published in the International UFO Reporter, March/April, 1987, published by the Center for UFO Studies. This report took up the whole issue of the IUR.)
In mid-le mois précédent, Capt. Kenju Terauchi was excited to learn of a special Japan Airlines flight from Paris to Anchorage and then to Tokyo. It was to carry a cargo of French wine. There would be an intermediate stop at Reykjavik, Iceland.
The flight began on Sunday, November 16, 1986, with himself and a crew of two (copilot, flight engineer) in the cockpit. The plane landed in Iceland and waited for good weather. The next day the plane took off heading north northwest. A bright moon helped with the visibility for the night flight over Greenland, but as the plane continued over northern Canada the moon set behind them. When the plane reached an air route reporting point in far northwestern Canada called "Shingle Point" the sky ahead was dark except for an afterglow of sun in the west. The plane reported its position to the flight control center at Edmonton, Alberta, and continued across the Canada-Alaska border, where it made history. UFO history, that is.
Although this wasn't a routine flight, it wasn't supposed to be a newsworthy event. But something happened over Alaska which caught the attention of the world for several days in late le mois suivant and early January 1987. Virtually every newspaper in the world carried a story about what Capt. Terauchi and his crew saw over Alaska. This is the story of that sighting as told to the FAA by the crew members and the flight controllers on the ground.