Radar Contact

Shortly after the copilot told the AARTCC, at 5:23:05, that the clouds were "below us", he reported a new and sudden event:

5:23:13 JAL1628 - And now the target, ah, traffic is extinguished. We cannot see it now.

5:23:19 AARTCC - JAL1628 Roger. And I'm not receiving any radar replies.

It was probably at this time that the "two ships" which had been quite close to the plane since 5:18 or 5:19 PM suddenly moved farther away and to the left. Looking to the left the captain could now see that there was a pale white flat light in the direction where the ships flew away, moving in a line along with us, in the same direction and same speed and at the same altitude as we were s1Written (in Japanese, with translation) testimony of Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi as received by the FAA on Friday, January 2, 1987. .

About this time the AARTCC controller decided to find out if the Air Force at Elmendorf Regional Operational Control Center had anything on its radar.

5:23:35 AARTCC - (to the ROCC) Could you look approximately 40 miles south of Fort Yukon? There should be [JAL1628] up there. Can you tell me [if] you see [a] primary target and its position?

It took the ROCC operator about 2 minutes to answer the question. In the meantime significant events occurred aboard the plane and at the AARTCC. It was now about 14 minutes et 30 secondes since Capt. Terauchi had first seen the lights traveling along with his plane, about 6 minutes since the lights had appeared abruptly in front of the plane, and only 1 minute or so since the "ships" quickly moved away from the jet, apparently in the direction of the flat pale white light s2Written (in Japanese, with translation) testimony of Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi as received by the FAA on 2 Friday. which the captain later described as like two white fluorescent-like lights s3Personal statement by Carl Henley of the AARTCC, released by the FAA office on December 29, 1986.. A drawing made several hours later indicates that the lights were horizontally oriented and spaced apart, like two long fluorescent tubes end-to-end with a large dark gap in between them. (See Figure 5a. Figure 5b is the captain’s map to illustrate the location of the airplane along its flight track in Alaska when the “traffic” first appeared at the left - 1, when the traffic appeared in front of the airplane - 2 and when the traffic departed and the two white lights appeared at the left - 3. The illustrations in Figure 5 were drawn several hours after the sighting.)

At this time in the flight he could only see the two white lights. He was not sure whether the two "ships" had become pale white lights after they moved away from the jet or if the white lights were something entirely different. (He reported that later in the flight that he could see the outline of a large shape connecting the lights. After seeing the outline the captain had the impression that the distant lights were on a very large "mothership" and that the two small "ships" had traveled to the "mothership" s4Interview of Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi, 2 Friday..) It was difficult for the other crew members to see the pale lights through the left window and they didn't try to describe any particular orientation or shape to the lights. They did, however, agree that there were some lights at the left where the pilot indicated.

Up to this time the AARTCC had not acknowledged the detection of any anomalous target on the ground radar. Terauchi recalled his feelings at the time: We had [earlier] said we could see lights in the 10 o'clock position (i.e., about 60 degrees to the left) at the same altitude and wondered if they could see anything on their radar. The Anchorage Center replied that they could see nothing on their radar. (See the response from the AARTCC at 5:23:19.) Copilot Tamefuji recalled that, even though the lights were now farther away, the captain decided to search the object by the [airplane's] radar s5Information found in the 5 Monday interview of Copilot Takanori Tamefuji. The difficulty in communicating through an interpreter is evident in the transcript of this interview. At one point the interviewer asked Tamefuji, referring to the arrays of lights ahead and to the left, And you could distinguish these lights as being different from the star...? Tamefuji's response is transcribed as NNNooo..., which some might interpret as meaning that Tamefuji couldn't distinguish the lights from stars. But the interviewer immediately continued ...from the stars? to which Tamefuji replied, "Different is fine." Subsequently Tamefuji made it quite clear that the lights were very different from stars..

Terauchi wrote s6Written (in Japanese, with translation) testimony of Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi as received by the FAA on 2 Friday. , I thought it would be impossible to find anything on an aircraft radar if a large ground radar did not show anything, but I judged the distance of the object visually and it was not very far. I set the digital weather radar distance to 20 (nautical) miles, radar angle to horizon (i.e., no depression angle). There it was on the screen. A large green and round object (here he refers to the image or "blip" on the radar screen) had appeared at 7 miles or 8 miles away, where the direction of the object was. We reported to Anchorage center that our radar caught the object within 7 miles or 8 miles in the 10 o'clock position. We asked them if they could catch it on ground radar but it did not seem they could catch it at all [21]. During the January interview Terauchi recalled that the radar detection occurred about 15 minutes after he first saw the lights, i.e., at about 5:25 PM. He was only slightly in error.

5:24:50 AARTCC - JAL1628, do you still have, uh, visual contact with the, ah, traffic?

5:24:53 JAL1628 - Affirmative. Also, s7Information obtained from the tape recording and transcript of the tape recording of conversations between the plane and the AARTCC. we [have] radar contact, ah... (unintelligible; broken transmission).

5:25:02 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, roger, sir. I'm picking up a hit on the radar approximately 5 miles in trail of your six o'clock position (i.e., behind the plane). Do you concur? n1This was probably a silly question to ask since the crew could not see behind the plane. However, it is the first indication that the Elmendorf radar may have detected something other than the plane.

5:25:12 JAL1628 - Ah, negative, ah, 11 o'clock, ah, 8 miles, ah, same level. Over.

A month and a half later the captain did not remembered the direction accurately (see above; he recalled the 10 o'clock position) but he had recalled the distance correctly. Flight engineer Tsukuba recalled seeing on the radar screen at about 10 miles a green dot like, not exactly a dot. It was not a dot but stream like, i.e., elongated. He did not think it (the radar target) was the same lights as the one (sic) I saw in front of us. Here the flight engineer is referring to the visual difference between the two bright "ships" which had been nearly in front of the jet and the pale whitish light of the "mothership." Tsukjuba described this "second" light as very difficult to see and vague, although he did indicate that he saw it for a total of 30 minutes.

According to Tsukuba (and also the pilot and copilot) there was no problem with internal cockpit lights reflecting off the windows since the internal lights had all been turned off (except the dim instrument lights). Tsukuba was sure that the "mothership" light was indeed outside the aircraft, but it was sufficiently indistinct and hard to see from his seat on the right side of the jet that he was not certain whether it was lights of a distant town or a strange object s8Information found in the 15 Thursday interview of the flight engineer, Yoshio Tsukuba.. He reported that the weather was clear and that none of his instruments showed any disturbances. Copilot Tamefuji recalled that the radar echo was just like other traffic, but, ah, I thought a little bit large. He said the radar target image was green and at a distance of 7 miles (nautical) to 8 miles (nautical). He said he had many experiences before in checking oncoming aircrafts on a radar and in his opinion the radar echo was similar to a conventional aircraft echo.

Several hours after the sighting the captain, who had the best view of the radar screen, drew a picture of the radar image s9Notes made by Special Agents Jack Wright, James Derry and Ronald Mickle after the crew was interviewed just after the plane landed at Anchorage on November 17.. His illustration, Figure 6, shows a filled circle or "dot" at the center of a thick arc that covered ten or so degrees of arc [see illustration]. The image was roughly the 60 degree to the left of straight ahead. (The radar screen was marked with circles at varying distance, 5 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles, etc., and the image of the unknown was an arc lying between the 5 miles and 10 miles circles.) In commenting on the radar image the captain pointed out that normally it appears in red when an aircraft radar catches another aircraft whereas green is usually the color of a weak weather target such as a cloud. The fact that the echo was green on the screen led him to ask whether or not the metal used in the spaceship is different from ours s10Written (in Japanese, with translation) testimony of Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi as received by the FAA on 2 Friday. . One might also speculate on the use of radar signature reduction techniques generally classified as "stealth." At any rate, the shape, size and color of the radar target indicated that the object was quite large and yet quite a weak reflector.

The radar target remained on the screen for an undetermined length of time, but probably for no more than several minutes. While we were communicating with Anchorage Center, the captain said, the two pale white lights gradually moved to the left side and to the left diagonally back 30 degrees as if they understood our conversation and then when they were beside our aircraft (i.e., at about the 9 o'clock position or 90 degrees to the left) they totally disappeared from our radar. This is not surprising since the weather radar as it scans back and forth does not cover an arc greater than 90 degrees to the left or right. While the "mother ship" lights were dropping back to the left and the radar echo was going off the screen of the airplane radar, the Air Force and the AARTCC were having their own radar detections. At 5:25:45, after spending two minutes looking, the ROCC radar controller reported back to the AARTCC that he was getting some "surge primary return." By this he meant an occasional radar echo unaccompanied by a transponder signal.

(It is important to understand the difference between "primary return" and a transponder return. On the radar screen each appears as a small dot or "blip" and if a plane with a transponder is present the two blips appear together (if one is not masked out). Primary radar, which is the standard echo-based radar, is the only way of detecting a distant aircraft that has no transponder. It is what one would expect to use to detect "non-cooperative" objects which don't have transponder, such as UFOs! A transponder is a transmitter on an airplane which sends out a coded signal in response to a radar pulse from the ground station. All commercial planes carry transponders as the main means of detection by the ground controllers. The transponder can carry more information than just the echo, such as the plane designation and its altitude. In this case the JAL1628 carried a transponder. Therefore the radar operator would expect to see two adjacent blips each time the radar beam, in its continuous rotatory sweep mode, would sweep past the airplane. Any primary return without a transponder return would be evidence of a radar reflective object without a transponder. The difference between primary radar and transponder signals played a roll in the FAA "explanation" of the radar detections described below.)

The ROCC controller added, I don't know if it's erroneous or whatever, but... The AARTCC responded:

17:25:50 AARTCC - Negative, its not erroneous. I want you to keep a good track on there and if you pick up a [transponder signal], verify that you do not have any [military] aircraft operating in that area.

17:25:57 ROCC - That is affirm(ative). We do not have anybody up there right now. Can you give me the position of the primary you're receiving?

17:26:03 AARTCC - I'm picking up a primary approximately 50 miles southeast. But it's right in front of the (JAL1628) s11Information obtained from the tape recording and transcript of the tape recording of conversations between the plane and the AARTCC..

Unfortunately the AARTCC controller did not say what the primary return was southeast of (I know; don't end a sentence with a preposition!). He may have meant something southeast of Ft. Yukon, since it was displayed as a location on his radar screen. At this time the plane was roughly 60 miles south southwest, relative to geographic north, of Ft. Yukon. But with respect to magnetic north (which is used on air route maps), the plane was southeast of Ft. Yukon. (The reason for this difference in direction is that in that area of Alaska magnetic north has a deviation of about 30 degrees clockwise from true geographic north.)

The conversation continued as follows:

17:26:13 ROCC - OK. I've got him about....

17:26:15 AARTCC - 8 miles in front of the (JAL1628) he's got traffic at the same altitude (35000 feet).

17:26:18 ROCC - OK. I've got him about his, ah, oh, it looks like about, ah, 10 o'clock at about that range, yes.

The clear implication of the last ROCC comment is that the Elmendorf radar showed a primary return - an object without a transponder - in about the same location as the captain reported! (Keep this in mind as you read the FAA "explanation" presented farther on in this paper.) The AARTCC then asked the ROCC to check on any military flights in the area around the plane and ended the conversation at 5:26:35.

About a minute later AARTCC called ROCC to report that the target in front of the (JAL1628) is unknown to us s12Information obtained from the tape recording and transcript of the tape recording of conversations between the plane and the AARTCC.. ROCC reponded (5:27:53), OK. We've lost contact with it now. The AARTCC controller then went on to say, OK. We're not working that aircraft (meaning the unknown target) in the... (unintelligible) ..well, the aircraft (JAL1628) still has a visual contact, only he can't identify the [unknown] aircraft. He believes it has white and yellow strobes. To this the ROCC controller responded (5:28:04), OK. I'm still not, I, we lost contact on him. I don't see him at all. In other words, there was no longer an unknown primary return on the ROCC radar display.

During this conversation the flight was continuing along a straight line heading of 215 degrees (southwestward) toward Talkeetna. The unusual lights were at the left side. The captain recalled, When they were in front of us they were positioned slightly higher in altitude than we were, but now they placed themselves slightly below the horizon where it was difficult to see. The distance between us was still about seven to eight miles visually. The airplane radar no longer showed a radar echo since the lights were too far to the left s13Notes made by Special Agents Jack Wright, James Derry and Ronald Mickle after the crew was interviewed just after the plane landed at Anchorage on November 17..

Many minutes earlier, when the sighting began (about 5:10 PM), Ft. Yukon was at the right of the plane. The captain recalled the lighting conditions of the sky at the time: When we started to see Ft. Yukon diagonally below us at the right the sun was setting down in the Southwest, painting the sky in a slightly red stripe, approximately two to three millimeters (at arms length?) and gave a bit of light but the east was still pitch dark. A calculation of the angular elevation and azimuth of the sun shows that at the time of the intial sighting the sun was about 15 degrees below the horizon, from ground level, and was at an azimuth of about 270 degrees, or due west. This would place it below the horizon and 55 degrees to the right of straight ahead of the plane. Thus the astronomical calculation shows that the captain was incorrect in referring to the sunset direction as "southwest" although he wasn't far off. The calculation is consistent with the claim of the captain and crew that the sun had set and that there was a thin reddish stripe of sky just at the horizon to the right of straight ahead.

Under these conditions the sky to the left of the plane would have been very dark and stars would have been visible. The nearly full moon which had lighted the sky while the plane was over Greenland was now behind the plane at an azimuth of about 50 degrees and an elevation of about 10 degrees. Two planets were visible above the horizon in the southeast: Jupiter at an azimuth of about 140 degrees and an elevation of somewhat more than 11 degrees and Mars at about the same azimuth but only several degrees above the horizon. Jupiter was quite bright and Mars was much dimmer. Jupiter and Mars were 70 degrees to the left of straight ahead as the plane flew southwestward.

By the time the "small ships" had moved away from the aircraft and the ROCC had detected some "surge primary return" near the jet, the sun was several more degrees below the horizon, the sky in the southeast was darker and the plane was well south of Ft. Yukon. The captain picks up the narrative: Far in front of us there were lights increasing from the U.S. Military Eielson AFB and Fairbanks. Each was about 40 miles away at this time. The lights were still following us at exactly the same distance. However, it was too dark to identify by only the lights whether or not they were the same spaceships that were flying in front of us a few minutes ago. It seemed that we were flying on the lighter side and gave them the advantage of being on the dark side.

That is, from the viewpoint of the supposed "mothership" the airplane was silhouetted against the light western sky, but the crew of the jet couldn't see the outline of the "mothership" because it was silhouetted against the dark sky in the southeast. The captain was able to see only the faint lights from the "mothership."

As the plane approached Eielson and Fairbanks the captain saw: two very bright lights appear suddenly from the north ... perhaps four or five mountains away. He speculated at the time what these might be. He couldn't identify all the normal ground lights because the flight above Alaska territory is generally in daytime and it is confusing to identify the kind of lights on the ground. He finally decided that the lights were along the Alaska pipe line.

Continuing his narrative, Capt. Terauchi recalled, We arrived at the sky above Eielson AFB and Fairbanks. (Actually, at this time, about 5:30 PM, the plane was about 20 miles northeast of Eielson and about 30 miles east-northeast of Fairbanks.) The lights (of the city) were extremely bright to eyes that were used to the dark. (The cockpit lights had been turned off to eliminate window reflections of internal lights.) We were just above the bright city lights and we checked the pale white light behind us. Alas! There was a silhouette of a gigantic spaceship. We must run away quickly! Anchorage Center. The JAL1628 is requesting a change of course to right 45 degrees. It felt like a long time before we received permission s14Written (in Japanese, with translation) testimony of Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi as received by the FAA on 2 Friday. . Actually it took only 15 secondes to get permission, as the transcript of the AARTCC tape recording shows. But it did take longer to actually begin the turn.

5:30:16 JAL1628 - (very broken communication; unintelligible)

5:30:20 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, you're coming in broken. Say again.

5:30:23 JAL1628 - Request, ah, deviate, ah, ah, from, ah, object, ah, request heading two four zero.

5:30:52 AARTCC - JAL1628 Roger. Fly heading two four zero. JAL1628 heavy, deviations approved as necessary for traffic. (Note: since the controller knew that there were no other known aircraft in the sky it was OK for JAL1628 to go anywhere it wanted to avoid "traffic.")

5:30:49 JAL1628 - It's, ah, quite big...

5:30:52 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, you're still broken. Say again.

5:30:56 JAL1628 - It's, ah, very quite big, ah, plane.

The radar tracking data show that by asking for a magnetic heading of 240 degrees Tamefuji was requesting a 60 degree turn to the right. At 5:31:08, about 50 seconds after Tamefuji called for permission to turn, the plane began to turn from its magnetic heading of 182(+/-1) degrees (about 215 degrees with respect to geographic north). By 5:32:08 the plane had settled on its new heading of 222 degrees magnetic (255 true), a turn of 40 degrees, which is close to the 45 degrees which the captain recalled, but less than the 60 degrees requested by Tamefuji.

The captain's narrative continues after the right turn: We checked our rear [and] there was still the ship following us. 'This JAL1628. Again requesting for change course 45 degrees to the right.' We had to get away from that object. 'JAL1628. This is Anchorage Center. We advise you, continue and take 360 degree turn.' 'Jal1628, thank you. We will continue 360 degree turn s15Written (in Japanese, with translation) testimony of Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi as received by the FAA on 2 Friday. .

Unfortunately the captain was not totally accurate in his recall of these apparently frightening events. The AARTCC transcript shows that there was no request for a second right turn. There was, however, a request for a descent in altitude from 35000 ft to 31000 ft at 5:32:07 followed by a request to turn to a heading of "two one zero," i.e. about a 12 degree turn to the left, at 5:34:56. Later on, at 5:36:37 the AARTCC controller asked the plane to make a 360 degree right turn. But all of this is getting ahead of the story.

So, what was it that the captain saw that caused this "flight response?" What did he mean by the silhouette of a gigantic spaceship? The term silhouette is applied to a situation in which the observer sees the outline of a relatively dark object against a brighter background, or vice versa. The location of the plane just before the turn was northeast of Eielson and roughly east of Fairbanks. East of Eielson there are no cities, just mountains. Looking behind and to the left, then, the pilot was looking away from city lights. This would mean that anything in the sky at an altitude somewhat below that of the plane would not be silhouetted against a bright background. Something above the horizon, however, might have been silhouetted against a slightly bright sky since the moon (on the horizon behind the plane) brightened the sky. Perhaps what happened is that before this time the "spaceship" was below the altitude of the airplane and thus silhouetted against the dark earth (and so the captain could only see the pale white lights) but at this time the "spaceship" moved upward and was above the horizon and the captain could now see its silhouette against the sky. Alternatively, perhaps what the captain saw was a reflection of ground lights off the object and thus was able to see its outline silouetted against a dark background. At any rate, he got the impression that the object was bigger than his airplane, so big, in fact, that in public statements he compared it to the size of an aircraft carrier! He could still see the horizontal pale white lights, as illustrated in Figure 5a, but he could now also see other structure as illustrated in Figure 8, which was drawn about a month and a half after the event.

Shortly after the plane turned to the right the AARTCC controller called the Fairbanks Approach Radar controller to find out whether or not the short range radar had a target near the JAL. The approach radar reported no target other than JAL1628.

Just after the right turn the plane was flying on a heading of about 255 degrees (true) and was about 20 miles north of Eielson AFB and 30 miles east of Fairbanks. At 5:32 PM the conversation between the controller and JAL1628 continued:

5:32:07 JAL1628 - JAL1628, ah, request descent.

5:32:20 JAL1628 - JAL1628 Request three one zero. (i.e., 31000 ft)

5:32:25 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, understand. Requesting flight level three one zero.

5:32:34 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, your transmissions are broken. Say again.

5:32:39 JAL1628 - Flight level three one zero.

5:32:41 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, descend at pilot discretion. Maintain flight level three one zero.

5:32:45 JAL1628 - Leaving three five zero to three one zero. (The descent begins)

The tracking data show that the plane descended from 35000 ft to 31000 ft over the next four minutes, reaching the lower altitude when the plane was almost due south of Fairbanks and just before it entered the 360 degree turn.

5:32:58 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, do you still have your traffic?

5:33:00 JAL1628 - Still, ah, coming, ah, ah, right in formation, in ah, formation.

5:33:07 AARTCC - JAL1628, understand.

A minute and a half went by, during which time the plane flew on a straight heading while decreasing in altitude. Then the AARTCC decided to find out what had happened to the traffic.

5:34:38 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, say position of your traffic.

5:34:42 JAL1628 - Affirmative. Just over Fairbanks.

5:34:52 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, understood. Your traffic is over Fairbanks at this time.

5:34:56 JAL1628 - Affirmative, ah, requesting heading two one zero.

5:35:02 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, roger. Deviations approved as necessary for traffic.

This portion of the audio tape transcript shows that the captain was incorrect in recalling a second right turn. Instead, the plane turned left about 12 degrees beginning at 5:35:09 and it continued to turn as if it were heading back in the direction of Talkeetna. By the time of the left turn the altitude had decreased to about 33000 ft. The statement at 5:34:42 that the object was over Fairbanks could not be correct if the object were at the left side of the plane because at that time Fairbanks was still ahead and somewhat to the right.

5:35:15 AARTCC - JAL1628, say altitude of your traffic.

5:35:20 JAL1628 - Ah, oh, ah, ah, same level.

Another minute passed by during which time the AARTCC called the Fairbanks approach radar again and once again the approach radar reported no target other than the JAL1628 itself. The copilot indicated that he wanted to resume his flight straight directly to Talkeetna:

5:36.12 JAL1628 - Ah, Anchorage Center, JAL1628. Request direct to Talkeetna.

5:36:18 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, cleared direct to Talkeetna and in, ah, advise me of your (sic) position of your traffic.

5:36:24 JAL1628 - Ah, same po... same position.

In other words it appeared that the "traffic" had stayed in the same position relative to the aircraft and had descended with the aircraft to an altitude which was about 31200 ft s16Flight path as constructed from the radar data package supplied by the FAA. . The AARTCC decided it was time to "test" this unusual "traffic."

5:36:37 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, sir. I'm gonna request you to make a right turn three six zero degrees, 360 degree turn and advise me what your traffic does then.

5:36:47 JAL1628 - Right turn 360.

The plane commenced the turn at about 5:37:15. The pilot, in his testimony written a month and a half later, recalled this event: We had to get away from that object. JAL1628. This is Anchorage Center. We advise you, continue and take a 360 degree turn. JAL1628, thank you. We will continue 360 degree turn. It was too slow to circle in the automatic pilot mode; therefore we switched to the manual mode and set to turn right on a 30 degree bank. We looked to our right forward but did not see any light. (Note: if an object initially behind the plane remained stationary as the plane turned to the right it would first be seen by the copilot on the right side.) We were relieved, thinking the object may have left us and [we] returned to level flight, but when we checked to our rear the object was still there in exactly the same place (i.e., after the turn was complete it was seen again, by the captain, far to the left rear of the plane).

When the plane began the turn the AARTCC communicated with the ROCC. At 5:37:23 the ROCC confirmed that no military aircraft were working up there and at 5:37:30 that there was no "traffic" on the radar screen. AARTCC then called the plane again. By this time the plane had been turning for about a minute and a half. It would take several more minutes to complete the turn.

5:38:55 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, sir. Does your traffic appear to be staying with you?

5:38:57 JAL1628 - Ah, [unintelligible] distinguished. [He meant extinguished.]

5:39:01 AARTCC - JAL1628 say again?

5:39:04 JAL1628 - It, ah, disappeared.

5:39:10 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, roger. At your discretion proceed directly to Talkeetna, J125 [to] Anchorage.

The "mothership" was behind and to the left before the right turn. Therefore there were three possible outcomes of the turn assuming that the object didn't just "disappear": (a) if the object remained stationary while the plane turned it would initially "disappear" from the left side and then reappear nearly behind the plane but on the right hand side after 30 seconds to minute of turning; (b) if the object also made a right hand turn but did so on the "outside" of the airplane's turn (i.e., at a much larger turning radius) then it would stay to the left and behind and be continually visible at the left; (c) if the object also made a right turn but trailed behind the airplane it would remain invisible during the turn.

The fact that it "disappeared" very soon after the plane started the turn indicates that the "mothership" did not make a turn on the outside of the turn of the plane. On the other hand, the captain and copilot recall that they looked out the right hand side to see if it would reappear during the turn, but they did not see it. Therefore it may have trailed the aircraft during the turn. But it did not stay directly behind the aircraft after the turn because the captain recalled that after the turn had been completed and they were again heading southward we (the captain, since he was the only one who could see to the left and behind) checked to our rear and the object was still there in exactly the same place.

The conclusion that the object may have trailed behind during the turn is consistent with a radar report made at the time. While the plane was turning the ROCC confirmed an anomalous radar target in the vicinity of the plane. (Note: some of the times given below do not agree with the times in the FAA transcript. This is because some of the transcript times are in error. The times given below agree with the FAA-supplied tape recording of the conversations between the FAA controllers, ROCC and the aircraft.)

5:38:57 AARTCC - Anchorage Center.

5:38:58 ROCC - Ya, this is one dash two again. On some other equipment here we have confirmed there is a flight size of two around. One primary return only.

5:39:05 AARTCC - OK. Where is, is he following him?

5:39:07 ROCC - It looks like he is, yes.

5:39:10 AARTCC - OK. Standby.

The use of the phrase "flight of two" indicated that, on the radar screen, the JAL1628 had a companion. That companion appeared as a primary return only (no transponder). Moreover, it appeared to the ROCC that the companion was "following" that is, it was behind the plane.

Soon after the ROCC confirmed a flight of two, the AARTCC resumed communication with the plane:

5:39:10 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, roger, at your discretion proceed direct to Talkeetna J125, Anchorage. (Note: J125 is a flight route.)

5:39:15 JAL1628 - (unintelligible)

5:39:35 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, roger sir. The military radar advises they do have a primary target in trail of you at this time.

5:39:32 JAL1628 - Ah, say again?

5:39:35 AARTCC - JAl1628 heavy. Military radar advises they are picking up intermittent primary target behind you in trail, in trail I say again.

5:39:47 JAL1628 - I think so.

While one of the AARTCC air traffic controllers was conversing with the plane another one was continuing to converse with the ROCC:

5:39:24 AARTCC - OK. Do you want to, do you have anybody you can scramble up there or do you want to do that?

5:39:30 ROCC - I'll tell you what. We're going to talk to the liaison officer about that.

5:39:33 AARTCC - OK. Uh, it's starting to concern Japan Airline 1628, a 747. He's making a 360 now and it's still following....

5:39:46 ROCC - Where is this search [radar] return at, right behind him or where?

5:39:50 AARTCC - Say again?

5:38:51 ROCC - Ah, I'm gonna talk to my other radar man here has gotta, he's got some other equipment watching this aircraft.

5:39:54 AARTCC - OK.

5:39:55 ROCC - OK. We're going to call the military desk on this.

At this point the conversation with the ROCC ended and the plane was contacted again.

5:40:10 AARTCC - JAL1628, Anchorage Center.

5:40:12 JAL1628 - Go ahead.

5:40:13 AARTCC - Roger Sir. Would you like our military to scramble on the traffic?

5:40:17 JAL1628 - Negative. Negative.

Captain Terauchi's immediate reaction to the offer of military assistance was to decline it. In his testimony he recalled the event and explained his reaction: JAL1628, This is Anchorage center. Would you like to request scramble for confirmation? The Anchorage Center, this is JAL1628. We would not request scramble. We turned down the offer quickly. I knew that in the past there was a U.S. military fighter called the Mustang that had flown up high for a confirmation and a tragedy had happened to it. Even the F-15 with the newest technology had no guarantee of safety against the creature with an unknown degree of scientific technology.

Despite the immediate negative reply the AARTCC was persistent:

5:40:26 AARTCC - Jal1628 heavy, sir, we do have military ah, at Eielson, 40 miles away. I can put them up and let them check the traffic for you.

5:40:34 JAL1628 - Roger.

5:40:35 AARTCC - JAL1628, roger. Would you like us to do that?

At this time a military aircraft referred to as TOTEM, which was not a fighter aircraft but was already in the air, offered to check out the traffic. The transmission was somewhat garbled, however, and the AARTCC controller thought he was hearing JAL1628. JAL1628 was also confused momentarily:

5:40:44 TOTEM - Anchorage Center, you have TOTEM 71 up here. We might be able to get close to him.

5:40:48 AARTCC - JAL1628, you were broken. Say again.

5:40:55 JAL1628 - Ah, say again?

5:40:59 AARTCC - JAL1628 Your transmission was broken, sir. We do have military aircraft in your vicinity that we can, ah, check on the, ah, traffic with you.

5:41:07 JAL1628 Ah, JAL1628. No radar traffic above.

(This last statement seems to make no sense in the context of the conversation. Perhaps Mr. Tamefuji did not correctly understand what the AARTCC had said.) It was now one minute since the AARTCC had been directed the plane to fly directly to Talkeetna. At that time, 5:39:10, the plane was about 1/3 of the way around the circle. Finally at 5:42:04 the plane responded. By this time it was 3/4 of the way around the circle.

5:42:04 JAL1628 - Anchorage Center, JAL1628. Confirm direct to Talkeetna three one zero.

5:42:09 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy. Affirmative. Direct to Talkeetna and descend at pilot's discretion. Maintain flight level two five zero.

5:42:16 JAL1628 - Ah, pilot's discretion. Two five zero.

While the plane was being directed to Talkeetna the AARTCC and the ROCC continued discussing the radar targets.

5:41:51 AARTCC - Where's that, ah, are you still painting a primary, ah, by that JAL flight?

5:41:56 ROCC - OK. Let me look at my other....

5:41:59 AARTCC - If so, where's the position of it?

5:42:00 ROCC - OK. Standby.

5:42:24 ROCC - It looks like, ah, offset left and then possibility fell back in trail. However, I can't see him now. I can't pick him out.

While this conversation was going on Capt. Terauchi was looking to his left and backwards. It was there again!

5:42:35 JAL1628 - Ah, we have...Anchorage Center, JAL1628. We have in sight same position, over.

5:42:42 AARTCC - JAL1628, understand. In sight, same position.

This statement, made as the plane was just coming out of the turn to head southward from near Fairbanks toward Anchorage, indicates, as described previously that the "mothership" may have followed behind the plane. The captain remembers the events this way: The consumption of fuel during this flight was almost as expected but there was only 3,800 pounds left and as such was not enough for extra flying for running around. We have got to arrive at Anchorage. At this point from in his testimony the captain recalled the direction from the AARTCC to proceed directly to Talkeetna. But he thought that the plane had initiated the request. He continued, We checked behind us again. The ship was in formation and ascending with us. We wondered and feared as to their purpose. The word ascending should have been descending (the plane never ascended during the sighting according to the tracking data) and furthermore, it is in the wrong temporal location in the testimony because the descent occurred before, not after the turn. (The captain incorrectly recalled the descent as occurring after the turn.)

His testimony continues at this point with his recollection of the query about a scramble of a military jet. But according to the transcript, the discussion of a scramble came before the plane completed the turn rather than after, as the captain recalled.

About a minute and a half later the AARTCC decided to find out whether or not the traffic was still with the plane.

5:44:07 AARTCC - JAL1628, sir, do you still have the traffic?

5:44:12 JAL1628 - Ah, say again please.

5:44:13 ARTCC - JAL1628 heavy.. Do you still have the traffic?

5:44:17 JAL1628 - Ah, affirmative, ah, nine o'clock.

Captain Terauchi recalled the reappearance of the "mothership." We flew toward Talkeetna at an altitude of 31000 ft. The spaceship was still following us, not leaving us at all.

By this time the plane was completely out of the turn and headed southward toward Talkeetna. At about 5:40 a United Airlines passenger jet took off from Anchorage and headed north to Fairbanks. Several minutes later it reported being at 29000 feet and on a 350 degree (magnetic) heading. The AARTCC controller decided to ask the UA pilot if he could see anything behind the JAL flight. At 5:44:43 he called the UA pilot to say that the JAL flight was in his 11 o'clock position and 110 nautical miles north and he has traffic following him, sir. It's unknown traffic... I want you to see if you see anything with him. The UA pilot said he would look when he got closer. The controller asked the JAL flight to stay at 31000 ft and the UA flight to stay at 29000 ft. He then directed the UA flight to turn some more so that the planes would pass within 5 miles of one another.

5:46:48 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy. Maintain flight level three one zero.

5:46:54 JAL1628 - maintain three one zero.

5:46:59 AARTCC - JAL1628, roger. I'm gonna have a United aircraft get close to you and take a look, ah, to see if he can identify your traffic.

5:47:06 JAL1628 - Thank you.

Several minutes later the planes were much closer together and closing on one another rapidly (the separation was decreasing at rate between 15 nautical miles an 20 nautical miles per minute).

5:48:16 UNITED 69 - Can you please point the traffic out again please?

5:48:19 AARTCC - United 69 heavy, affirmative. The, ah, Japan Air is in your eleven o'clock position and 50 nautical miles [away], southbound.

5:48:28 UNITED 69 - Ah, roger. Thank you.

5:48:31 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, sir, Say the position of your traffic.

5:48:34 JAL1628 - Ah, now, ah, ah, moving to, ah, around 10 miles now, ah, ah, position, ah seven, ah, eight o'clock, 10 miles.

5:48:36 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, roger.

As the planes approached each other in the dark sky the "mothership" apparently dropped back, allowing the JAL plane to get far ahead. Of course the 10 miles distance was only the pilot's guess. The object was too far back to be detected on the airplane radar, which would give an accurate distance. The United pilot asked the AARTCC to have the JAL pilot flash the headlights on the JAL aircraft so he could locate the plane. At 5:49:45 the JAL pilot did that. At this time the planes were about 25 miles apart.

Terauchi says that at about the time that his plane headed toward Talkeetna after the 360 turn, a United Airline passenger jet which left Anchorage to Fairbanks flew into the same air zone and began communicating with Anchorage center. We heard them transmitting that there was an object near JAL1628 and requesting for confirmation. We heard the Anchorage Center was saying to the United Airline aircraft that JAL1628 was at an altitude of 31000 ft and therefore the United aircraft should maintain 33000 ft. (Actually the transcript shows that the UA altitude was 29000 ft.) It sounded as if Anchorage Center had the United Airline aircraft fly above the spaceship. We were flying the east side of Mt. McKinley. The United Airline aircraft came close to us. The United Airline aircraft requested us to flash our landing lights for visual confirmation and we both confirmed our positions visually. The United Airlines aircraft was coming close to us. We knew that they were watching us. When the United plane came by our side the spaceship disappeared suddenly and there was nothing left but the light of the moon.

When the planes were about 12 miles apart and still approaching one another, the UA plane reported seeing the JAL plane and nothing else. By this time the "mothership" had apparently disappeared:

5:50:35 UA69 - UA69 heavy. We've got the Japan Airliner in sight. I don't see anybody around him. He's (referring to the "spaceship") at his seven o'clock position, huh?

5:50:46 AARTCC - UA69, that's what he says. JAL1628 heavy, say the position of your traffic now.

5:50:52 JAL1628 - Ah, now, distinguishing (he meant to say "extinguishing"), but, ah, ah, your, I guess, ah, 12 o'clock below you.

5:51:02 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, say again. You're broken.

5:51:06 JAL1628 - Just ahead of United, ah..(unintelligible)

The above conversation appears to confirm Terauchi's later recollection that the object disappeared when the two planes got close to one another. The copilot used the word distinguishing and followed this with I guess 12 o'clock below you. Previously he had used the word "distinguished" when he meant "extinguished," or no longer visible, because the object had disappeared shortly after the 360 turn began (see 5:38:57 and 5:39:04 above). Apparently he meant "extinguishing" or "extinguished" at this time as well. Furthermore, if the object had been still visible he would not have said I guess 12 o'clock below you. because the captain would have been able to see where the object was relative to the UA jet. Thus it appears that the object/light had disappeared by 5:51 when the planes were still about 12 miles apart.

It is also interesting to note that the copilot used the words "below" you which suggests that at that time the JAL flight crew thought that the UA plane was above their altitude. This is as the captain remembered it. Perhaps they did not hear the controller tell the UA plane to maintain 29000 ft.

At 5:51:32, after the planes had passed one another, the UA plane reported being able to see the JAL plane silhouetted against the sky. The UA captain could see the contrail as well as the jet but nothing else. The controller responded, We got just a few primary hits on the target and then, ah, we really haven't got a good track on him, ever, meaning that the radar never showed a continuous track (a continuous series of "blips") of primary-only radar targets associated with the unusual "traffic."

After the UA plane had passed the JAL flight at a point about 60 nautical miles south of Fairbanks at about 5:51, the AARTCC requested that TOTEM also fly toward the JAL plane for a look. AARTCC then directed the JAL plane to descend. The plane made its final report on the "traffic," which was long gone by this time.

5:53:10 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, descend at pilot discretion. Maintain flight level two five zero (25000 ft).

5:53:13 JAL1628 - JAL1628, ah, pilot's discretion maintain, ah, two five zero, so, ah, ah, I cannot, I couldn't see, ah, UFO, over.

5:53:27 AARTCC - JAL1628 heavy, understand. You do not see the traffic any longer.

5:53:31 JAL1628 - Affirmative.

During the next several minutes TOTEM viewed the JAL plane but couldn't see any other traffic. JAL1628 proceeded to Anchorage and landed at 6:20 PM. The Fantastic Flight was over, but the seeds of controversy had been sown. They would bear sometimes bitter fruit about a month and a half later.