Federal Aviation Administration
FAA information releases relating to unidentified flying objects, produced during the period of the Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 encounter over Alaska.
The JAL 1628 Encounter
On 17 November 1986, Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 was en route from Paris to Tokyo via Anchorage when Captain Kenju Terauchi and his two crew members observed unidentified objects pacing their Boeing 747 over northeastern Alaska. Terauchi, a former fighter pilot with more than 10,000 flight hours, reported two small craft and one massive object. The large object, which he compared in size to two aircraft carriers, appeared on the aircraft's weather radar and was tracked intermittently by Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Centre ground radar.
The encounter lasted over 30 minutes. Terauchi requested and received permission to deviate from his flight path. The object followed. Anchorage controllers confirmed an unidentified target near the 747's position at multiple points during the event. A United Airlines flight in the area was asked to look for the object but reported nothing visible.
The FAA's Anchorage office gathered its documentation: radar data recordings, air traffic controller voice tapes, and the crew's written statements. FAA Division Chief John Callahan, who oversaw the agency's Accidents and Investigations division in Washington, assembled the complete evidence package. The CIA and representatives from other agencies attended a briefing on the case at FAA headquarters.
Encounter Timeline, 17 November 1986
John Callahan later described the aftermath of the briefing in public testimony. Attendees were told the event "never happened." They were told not to discuss it. Callahan kept his copies of the radar data, voice recordings, and pilot reports anyway. He went public with the material in 2001 at the National Press Club. Radar tapes, controller voice recordings, and written pilot statements all corroborate the same event across multiple independent data sources.
They told us the meeting never took place. They told us it was all to be forgotten. That the event never happened. I kept my copies of the radar data anyway.John Callahan, FAA Division Chief, National Press Club, 2001
FAA and UFO Reporting
The FAA had no stake in the UFO debate. The Air Force had run investigation programmes since 1948 and built decades of institutional resistance to the topic. The FAA just cared whether something might hit an aeroplane. When pilots reported unidentified objects, the FAA asked one question: is this a collision risk? That made the agency an accidental source of candid documentation.
Record Group 237 holds the FAA's information releases from 1986. A small collection compared to Air Force or CIA holdings, but it captures something rare: a federal agency that initially spoke openly about a UFO encounter because it had no reason not to. The FAA released information to the press. Then the inter-agency briefing happened, and the discussion stopped.
Key People
The JAL 1628 encounter occurred over Alaska. For sighting reports from across the United States, see the United States sightings page. Japan's own history of UFO encounters is documented on the Japan sightings page. The APRO Bulletin covered the JAL encounter. The full case file cross-references crew statements, radar data, and FAA investigator records.
