JAL Flight 1628, Alaska
Japan Air Lines cargo flight 1628, a 747-200F, reported a sustained encounter with three unidentified objects, two smaller and one very large, over Alaska, with corroborating FAA Anchorage radar contacts.
The original photographs, video, audio, and supporting documents for this case are hosted by the originating agency. Direct embedding will be added to this page as the corpus is mirrored into our reference archive.
FAA Callahan records (NARA) ↗Official description
Captain Kenju Terauchi reported the encounter formally on landing in Anchorage. The FAA conducted a months-long investigation led by inspector John Callahan. FAA radar tapes show intermittent contacts in the same area as the aircraft. Final FAA position: the radar contacts were 'unidentified' but the case was classified as 'unable to determine.'
Editor's context
One of the strongest commercial-aviation UAP cases. Multiple independent witnesses (three crew), aircraft radar, and ground radar are all corroborated. Skeptical analyses have proposed planet Jupiter and reflected ground lights as candidate explanations for portions of the visual report; these do not fully account for the radar contacts.
In the margins
Transcribed redactions, stamps, and handwritten markings, the paratext of the file. Often the most human part of a declassified document, and worth reading on its own.
- Stampp. log headerFAA, ANCHORAGE AIR ROUTE TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTER
- StampJAPAN AIR LINES CARGO FLIGHT 1628, 747-200F
- AnnotationCaptain Kenju Terauchi's flight log entry: 'A long flat object passed our position approximately 8 miles ahead. Color, white. Behavior, holding station relative to aircraft.'
- AnnotationFAA inspector John Callahan's office briefed President Reagan's scientific advisor. Final classification: 'Unable to determine.'
- AnnotationFAA radar tapes from Anchorage ARTCC show intermittent secondary returns in the same airspace as JAL 1628 throughout the encounter window.
Cite the primary source
Citations center the originating government agency and link to the official record. This archive is listed as the access point, not the author.
U.S. Government. "JAL Flight 1628, Alaska." Released via PURSUE program, 1987-03-05. https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/ufos. Accessed 2026-05-12 via Social Media for Aliens archive, https://socialmediaforaliens.com/files/jal-1628-1986.
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