UFO Potpourri No 311

Magazine Overview

Title: UFO POTPOURRI
Issue: 311
Date: Wednesday, December 31, 1986
Publisher: EVENING OBSERVER, Dunkirk-Fredonia, N.Y.

JAL Pilot Reports Massive UFO Encounter Over Alaska

The lead story, by Jeff Berliner of UPI, details an extraordinary encounter by Kenju Terauchi, a veteran pilot for Japan Air Lines (JAL). On November 17, while flying a JAL Flight 1628 cargo jet for 400 miles across the Arctic skies from Iceland to Anchorage, Terauchi and his two crew members reported seeing three unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Two were described as small, and one was significantly larger, estimated to be twice the size of an aircraft carrier.

Terauchi, who has 29 years of flying experience, described the objects as "the two small ships and the mother ship." He noted that the smaller objects had flashing lights, and at one point, these lights appeared directly in front of the Boeing 747 cockpit. He expressed amazement at the objects' ability to disappear, reappear, and move and stop suddenly, speculating that they might be of extraterrestrial origin. Terauchi drew maps and pictures for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to illustrate the event.

FAA officials in Anchorage confirmed that the controller handling Flight 1628 saw a mysterious object on radar, and the Air Force at the Alaska Air Command also reported picking up something near the JAL plane. However, analysis of the electronic radar records by the FAA, as reported by spokesman Paul Steucke, indicated that the radar images were of the 747 itself, one from the FAA radar signal and another from the jet's transponder. The Air Force dismissed a blip on its radar at Elmendorf Air Force Base as "random clutter."

Despite the lack of independent radar confirmation for the larger object, Walter Andrus, director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), stated that the case was still considered "worthy of a lot of work." Richard Haines, a NASA official researching UFO sightings, called it a "typical encounter" with interesting dimensions.

Terauchi and his crew were not frightened, but Terauchi stated their feeling was, "We want to escape from this." With FAA permission, the crew dropped in altitude and made numerous turns, but the objects remained, and FAA radar confirmed at least one object persisted despite the maneuvers. Terauchi, as captain, maintained his composure, stating, "No, I am the captain. I cannot be nervous."

When asked why he thought the UFOs might have followed his plane, Terauchi humorously suggested it might be because they were carrying "Beaujolais, a very famous wine made in France. Maybe they want to drink it."

FAA security manager Jim Derry, who interviewed the crewmen, vouched for their credibility, stating they were "normal, professional, rational, (and had) no drug or alcohol involvement."

Radar Failures in Aviation Incidents

The second major article, by Marilyn Adams in USA TODAY, and a related piece from the Houston Chronicle News Services, delve into the issue of radar failures in aviation, drawing parallels between the JAL UFO incident and a recent fatal air collision.

The USA TODAY article notes that the federal probe into the JAL UFO encounter over Alaska has run out of leads, with the FAA finding no independent radar recording of the giant object. This lack of radar confirmation, despite the credible testimony of the JAL crew, leaves UFO enthusiasts intrigued but without definitive proof.

The Houston Chronicle article reports on a fatal air collision on January 16, 1987, near Kearns, Utah, where a small single-engine Mooney M-20 collided with a twin-engine Skywest Airlines' Fairchild Metroliner, killing all 10 people aboard. The Mooney, carrying a licensed pilot and a flight instructor, had taken off from a smaller airport. Crucially, the Mooney went undetected by either radar or radio at the larger airport's control tower. Tom Doyle, an assistant air traffic manager, stated, "I don't know where that aircraft was."

Sheri Casen, an FAA spokeswoman, confirmed that "there were no other targets observed on the radar" when the Skywest aircraft dropped off the screen. The article points out that this incident, the first U.S. commercial aviation disaster of 1987, occurred just five months after a similar collision involving an Aeromexico DC-9 and a small plane near Los Angeles International Airport, which killed 82 people.

Witnesses described the collision as a "whistling noise" followed by the planes hitting each other, with "no smoke; there was no explosion. It just looked like wood crumpling." Wreckage damaged three houses, but fortunately, no one on the ground was hurt. The article also includes a poignant account from Rebekah Whitelock, who narrowly escaped injury when landing gear smashed through her ceiling, killing her two cats.

Ron Nelson, base operator at Airport 2, stated that the pilot of the small plane may have been on a semi-annual flight review. Visibility at the time was good, but the collision occurred at 7,000 feet. The article notes that the small plane was no longer required to maintain radio contact with Airport No. 2 once it reached 5,400 feet.

Both articles implicitly question the reliability and capabilities of radar systems in detecting all airborne objects, especially smaller ones or those with 'stealth characteristics,' as suggested by the handwritten note on the second page. The JAL pilot's experience and the Utah collision highlight the potential for significant aviation incidents to occur even when radar is expected to be operational.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The issue of UFO POTPOURRI, as represented by these articles, focuses on the intersection of unexplained aerial phenomena and conventional aviation. The primary theme is the reporting of credible witnesses, such as the JAL pilot, encountering objects that defy easy explanation. A secondary, but equally prominent, theme is the failure of conventional detection systems, particularly radar, to corroborate or even detect these phenomena, as seen in both the JAL incident and the fatal air collision. The editorial stance appears to be one of presenting these accounts and raising questions about the limitations of current technology and the nature of unexplained aerial events, without definitively concluding on the origin of the UFOs. The inclusion of the Utah air collision, while not directly a UFO event, serves to underscore the broader theme of radar's fallibility in aviation safety.