UFO Potpourri No 310

Magazine Overview

Title: UFO POTPOURRI
Issue: no. 310
Date: June -87 (Cover date)
Publisher: JOHN F. SCHUESSLER
Country: USA
Price: $1

This issue of UFO POTPOURRI, dated June 1987, features a prominent cover story detailing a jet pilot's encounter with three unidentified flying objects over the Arctic. It also includes a report from August 1965 concerning radar detection of multiple UFOs over Lake Superior.

Jet Pilot Reports 3 UFOs Over Arctic

The lead article, sourced from UPI and the St. Louis Post Dispatch (dated Jan. 1, 1987), recounts the experience of Kenju Terauchi, a veteran pilot of Japan Air Lines (JAL) Flight 1628. While flying a Boeing 747 cargo jet from Iceland to Anchorage on November 17, 1986, Terauchi, his co-pilot Takanori Tamefuji, and flight engineer Yoshio Tsukuda reported seeing three UFOs for approximately 400 miles across northeastern Alaska.

Terauchi described two of the objects as small, perhaps eight feet across, and a third object as much larger, described as "twice the size of an aircraft carrier" or a "huge darkened globe." He noted that the smaller objects appeared directly in front of the cockpit at close range, while the larger object was visible on his cockpit weather radar. The crew expressed amazement at the objects' ability to disappear, reappear, move quickly, and stop suddenly.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Air Force also detected an object on their radar systems. FAA spokesman Paul Steucke confirmed that the controller handling Flight 1628 saw a mysterious object on radar behind the jet, and the Alaska Air Command's radar picked up something near the JAL plane. However, a subsequent review of radar tapes by the FAA, as reported by the Houston Chronicle (dated Jan. 5, 1987), suggested that the object might have been an unexplained "split image" of the JAL Boeing 747, rather than a separate entity. Steucke stated that the FAA's conclusion was that no second object was present, representing a reversal of earlier FAA statements.

Despite the radar findings, Steucke acknowledged that the co-pilot's testimony supported the pilot's account. The FAA interviewed the crewmen, and FAA security manager Jim Derry reported that they were "normal, professional, rational, (and had) no drug or alcohol involvement." The controller who handled the JAL plane reported the object on his radar as close as five miles to the jet, and it remained for at least 32 minutes.

Terauchi described the crew's emotional state as "We want to escape from this." With FAA permission, the crew performed maneuvers, but the objects continued to follow. The lights were described as yellow, amber, and green, not red (the international color for aircraft beacons). The smaller UFOs did not appear on the weather radar, but the larger one did.

Radar Crews Get Solid Fix on UFOs (August 6, 1965)

This section, dated August 6, 1965, from the Examiner in San Francisco, reports on an incident from the U.S. Air Force radar base in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Personnel there reported "solid radar contact" with seven to 10 unidentified flying objects moving in a "V" formation over Lake Superior. These objects were reportedly moving northeast at approximately 9,000 miles per hour, at altitudes between 5,200 and 17,000 feet.

Other radar stations in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Canada also reported spotting the objects. One station reported electronic jamming of its radar. Seven other objects were spotted over Duluth, and jet interceptors were dispatched. However, the interceptors could not match the speed of the UFOs and were easily outdistanced. The radar personnel involved requested that their names not be disclosed.

NASA Designing Aircraft That Stays Aloft 3 Months

This article, from the Houston Chronicle (dated Jan. 7, 1987), discusses NASA's plans for an aircraft designed to stay aloft for up to three months without landing or refueling. This long-duration aircraft is intended to test the atmosphere for carbon dioxide buildup and could be flying within three years, with an initial cost of over $30 million. The concept is of interest to the Pentagon's Strategic Defense Initiative program for potential airborne early warning systems.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The magazine's focus is clearly on UFO sightings and related phenomena, with a strong emphasis on pilot testimonies and official investigations. The inclusion of both a recent (1986) and a historical (1965) sighting suggests a commitment to documenting a range of UFO events. The publication appears to present these reports as credible accounts, even when official investigations yield inconclusive or contradictory results, as seen with the FAA's review of the JAL Flight 1628 incident. The editorial stance seems to be one of reporting on unexplained aerial phenomena and the efforts to understand them, while also touching upon related technological advancements like NASA's long-duration aircraft.