The 1986 JAL Flight 1628 Incident: Analysis of FAA Radar Records and Crew Testimony

The Encounter over Alaska On the evening of November 17, 1986, Japan Air Lines Flight 1628, a Boeing 747-200F cargo aircraft, was traversing the skies over eastern Alaska en route from Paris to Tokyo via Anchorage. Captain Kenju Terauchi, a veteran pilot with over 10,000 hours of flight experience, reported the sudden appearance of two rectangular objects emitting intense, square-shaped arrays of light. These objects paced the aircraft at an altitude of approximately 35,000 feet, maintaining a distance of less than 1,000 feet from the cockpit. Terauchi described the sensation of heat radiating from the objects, which appeared to use a propulsion system that left no visible exhaust, wake, or sonic boom despite high-speed maneuvers. The smaller crafts eventually retreated as a much larger, 'walnut-shaped' craft, which Terauchi estimated to be twice the size of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, appeared on the horizon and followed the 747 for nearly 400 miles across the Alaskan interior. ## FAA and Military Radar Confirmation The JAL 1628 incident is distinguished in the historical record by the high degree of corroborative sensor data. Anchorage Air Traffic Control (ARTCC) initially struggled to identify the objects on their civil radar, but military personnel at the Elmendorf Regional Operations Control Center (ROCC) confirmed a 'primary return'—a radar reflection from a physical object not equipped with a transponder—matching the position reported by the JAL crew. The FAA radar at Anchorage also recorded an intermittent target that shadowed the Boeing 747. This multi-sensor confirmation, involving both ground-based military radar and the aircraft's own onboard radar, ruled out atmospheric phenomena, astronomical bodies, or pilot hallucination. The data established that a physical, structured craft of unknown origin was operating within a restricted US air defense identification zone with impunity. ## Official Investigation and FAA Records Following the aircraft's landing, the FAA launched a high-level investigation. John Callahan, the FAA's Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations branch at the time, later testified that he briefed members of the Reagan administration and the CIA on the event. According to Callahan, the data presented—including synchronized voice tapes and radar plots—was so compelling that intelligence officials allegedly ordered the records to be confiscated to prevent public alarm. However, Callahan retained copies of the original radar data and voice recordings. These documents, eventually released through the Freedom of Information Act and preserved in digital archives like The Black Vault, reveal the internal agency struggle to reconcile the radar evidence with the extraordinary claims of the flight crew. The FAA’s final public report attributed the sightings to 'clutter' and 'glitches,' a conclusion that remains heavily disputed by the physical evidence and the technical testimony of the radar operators and flight crew involved.