Phantoms and Monsters

The Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 UFO Encounter

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 09:51 AM PST

Summary: In November, 1986, a Japanese crew of a jumbo freighter aircraft witnessed three unidentified objects while flying over Alaska, USA. This sighting gained international attention when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it was going to officially investigate this sighting because the Air Route Traffic Control Center in Anchorage, Alaska, had reported that the UFO had been detected on radar. Captain Terauchi was featured on numerous radio and TV programs and in People Magazine. Within a few months of these events he was grounded, apparently for his indiscretion of reporting a UFO, even though he was a senior captain with an excellent flying record. Several years later he was reinstated. The UFOs in this case were tracked on both ground and airborne radar, witnessed by experienced airline pilots, and confirmed by a FAA Division Chief.

Incident: November 17, 1986 - over northeastern Alaska - It was a special Japan Air Lines 747 cargo flight to carry a load of French wine from Paris to Tokyo. The flight plan would carry flight 1628 from Paris to Reykjavik, Iceland, across the North Atlantic and Greenland, then across Canada to Anchorage, Alaska, and finally across the Pacific to Tokyo. The crew consisted of veteran Captain Kenju Terauchi, co-pilot Takanori Tamefuji, and flight engineer Yoshio Tsukuba.

On November 16, 1986, laden with wine, JAL1628 took off from Paris and flew the first leg of the trip, to Reykjavik. The next day, they continued, flying over Greenland and then across northern Canada without event.

Just after they crossed into Alaska, at 5:09 PM local time, Anchorage Air Traffic Control contacted them on the radio to report initial radar contact. The Anchorage flight controller asked them to turn 15 degrees to the left and head for a point known as Talkeetna on a heading of 215 degrees. They were at 35,000 feet and traveling at a ground speed of about 600 mph.

At about 5:11 PM local time, Captain Terauchi noticed the lights of some sort of aircraft about 2000 feet below and 30 degrees to the left front of them. He decided that the aircraft was probably an American jet fighter from nearby Eielson or Elmendorf Air Force Bases patrolling Alaskan airspace, so he ignored them at first. However, after a few minutes, he noticed that the lights were keeping pace with his own aircraft, which would be an unusual thing for patrolling jets to do.

It was about seven or so minutes since we began paying attention to the lights (when), most unexpectedly, two spaceships stopped in front of our face, shooting off lights. The inside cockpit shined brightly and I felt warm in the face.

Terauchi said that it was his impression that the two objects he had seen below them minutes before had suddenly jumped in from of him. The craft, one above the other, kept pace with the 747 for several minutes, moving in unison with an odd rocking motion. After about seven minutes, they changed to a side-by-side arrangement. Terauchi said that the "amber and whitish" lights were like flames coming out of multiple rocket exhaust ports arranged in two rectangular rows on the craft. He felt that they fired in a particular sequence to stabilize the craft, much like the small maneuvering thrusters on the Space Shuttle. He also reported seeing sparks like a fire when using gasoline or carbon fuel.

Co-pilot Tamefuji described the lights as "Christmas assorted" lights with a "salmon" color. He said: I remember red or orange, and white landing light, just like a landing light. And weak green, ah, blinking. He also described the lights as pulsating slowly. They became stronger, became weaker., became stronger, became weaker, different from strobe lights. The lights were "swinging" in unison as if there were "very good formation flight...close" of two aircraft side by side. He described the appearance of the lights as similar to seeing "night flight head-on traffic", where it is only possible to see the lights on an approaching aircraft and "we can not see the total shape." He said, I'm sure I saw something. It was clear enough to make me believe that there was an oncoming aircraft.

Flight engineer Tsukuba, who sat behind the copilot, did not have as good a view of the lights. He first saw them "through the L1 window at the 11 o'clock position" and he saw "clusters of lights undulating". These clusters were "made of two parts...shaped like windows of an airplane". He emphasized that "the lights in front of us were different from town lights." He described the colors as white or amber.

Tamefuji decided to call Anchorage Air Traffic Control, and for the next thirty minutes the 747 and AARTCC were in constant contact regarding the UFO.

During this time, Captain Terauchi asked Tskububa to hand him a camera so that he could attempt to take a photograph of the lights. However, Terauchi was unfamiliar with the camera and could not get it to operate. Tsukuba also could not get his camera to operate due to problems with the auto-focus and finally gave up trying to take a photo.

At this point they began experiencing some radio interference and were asked by Anchorage to change frequencies. Terauchi later said that Anchorage kept asking him about clouds in the immediate area: They asked us several times if there were clouds near our altitude. We saw thin and spotty clouds near the mountain below us, no clouds in mid-to-upper air, and the air current was steady.

Soon after the exchanges about clouds, the objects flew off to the left. Terauchi said later: There was a pale white flat light in the direction where the ships flew away, moving in a line along with us, in the same direction and same speed and at the same altitude as we were.

Terauchi decided to see whether they could see anything on the 747's own radar:

I thought it would be impossible to find anything on an aircraft radar if a large ground radar did not show anything, but I judged the distance of the object visually and it was not very far. I set the digital weather radar distance to 20 (nautical) miles, radar angle to horizon (i.e., no depression angle). There it was on the screen. A large green and round object had appeared at 7 or 8 miles (13 km to 15 km) away, where the direction of the object was. We reported to Anchorage center that our radar caught the object within 7 or 8 miles in the 10 o'clock position. We asked them if they could catch it on ground radar but it did not seem they could catch it at all

At 5:25:45, after spending two minutes looking, the military radar at Elmendorf Regional Operational Control Center also picked up something. The ROCC radar controller reported back to the AARTCC that he was getting some "surge primary return." By this he meant an occasional radar echo unaccompanied by a transponder signal.

As the 747 neared Fairbanks:

The lights (of the city) were extremely bright to eyes that were used to the dark. (The cockpit lights had been turned off to eliminate window reflections of internal lights.) We were just above the bright city lights and we checked the pale white light behind us. Alas! There was a silhouette of a gigantic spaceship. We must run away quickly! "Anchorage Center. The JAL1628 is requesting a change of course to right 45 degrees." It felt like a long time before we received permission

Just after the plane turned to the right, the AARTCC controller called the Fairbanks Approach Radar controller to find out whether or not the short-range radar had a target near the JAL. The approach radar reported no target other than JAL1628.

The plane came out of the turn and flew toward Talkeetna at an altitude of 31,000 ft, with the object still following.

At about 5:40 a United Airlines passenger jet took off from Anchorage and headed north to Fairbanks. The AARTCC controller decided to ask the UA pilot to try to see the object that was following the JAL flight. The UA pilot said he would look when he got closer. The controller asked the JAL flight to stay at 31,000 ft and the UA flight to stay at 29,000 ft. He then directed the UA flight to turn some more so that the planes would pass within five miles of one another.

As the United Airlines jet got closer, the UFO apparently dropped behind, allowing the JAL plane to get far ahead. The United pilot asked the AARTCC to have the JAL pilot flash the headlights on the JAL aircraft so he could locate the plane. At 5:49:45 the JAL pilot did that. At this point the planes were about 25 miles apart.

When the planes were about 12 miles apart, the UA plane reported seeing the JAL plane and nothing else. But by this time the UFO had apparently disappeared, not being seen by JAL1628, either.

At about 5:51, the AARTCC requested that a military TOTEM flight in the area also fly toward the JAL plane for a look. During the next several minutes TOTEM viewed the JAL plane but couldn't see any other traffic. JAL1628 proceeded to Anchorage and landed at 6:20 PM.

The FAA conducted an investigation of the incident, and did not issue its final report until March 5. CSICOP's (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal)Phil Klass issued a premature statement on January 22 claiming that the UFOs were the planets Jupiter and Mars - an impossible solution because the UFO was seen in a part of the sky opposite the position of these planets and because the UFOs moved from positions one above the other to side by side. CSICOP later issued a second explanation that the UFO was light reflecting off of clouds of ice crystals - also unlikely because the sky was clear at the reported altitude of the UFO. The FAA attributed the radar images received by ground radar to a "split radar return from the JAL Boeing 747."

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CALLAHAN PRESENATION SUMMARY

UFO INCIDENT INVOLVING A JAPANESE B747 IN THE VICINITY OF ANC - NOV. 1986

As the Division Manager for the FAA Washington headquarters Accidents, Evaluation and Investigations, I was responsible for the quality of air traffic service provided to the FAA users. When informed of the "UFO incident involving a Japanese B747 in the Alaskan region" I ordered the RADAR recorded data and voice tapes flown to the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey for evaluation and analysis by both FAA Hardware and Software experts. After reviewing the play back of the event on a controller's scope, referred to as a "PVD" and receiving a detailed analysis of the incident, I briefed the FAA Administrator and members of
President Reagan's scientific staff, CIA, etc. on the following:

During the play back of the event I observed a primary radar target in the position reported by the Japanese pilot. The intermittent primary target stayed in close proximately to the B747 for approximately 31 minutes. Both the FAA controller and military NORAD controller reported observing the RADAR return of the "UFO" target on their "scopes". There was no noticeable weather" in the area. "You can see into next Tuesday" was reported by a United pilot.

The UFO was painted as an extremely large primary target. As a result of the lacking run length identification the FAA computer system treated the UFO RADAR return as "weather" and transmitted it to the controller's PVD via a non recorded line. ( All known aircraft are programed in the FAA computer systems "Run Length" table.) At the conclusion of the hand-off briefing the CIA advised they were "confiscating all the data, this event never happened, we were never here and you are all sworn to secrecy." They also advised they would not notify the media as "it would scare the public."

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Alaska's 1986 UFO sighting still rouses curiosity

Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2002 - Although man has walked on the moon and orbited the earth, there is still no proof that intelligent beings exist on other planets. Yet scientists believe there could be.

There is even one account to suggest aliens have flown over Alaska.

For generations, man has fictionalized what it would be like to meet aliens or unidentified flying objects. But again, that's just fiction. This may be fact.

"Either there's something there or there isn't it," says former FAA division chief John Callahan. "Is it a spaceship or not? Why would they say it's a spaceship if it's not? The radar ain't lying."

Radar reports were part of what Callahan investigated while working for the Federal Aviation Administration in 1986. The investigation stemmed from a report by a Japan Airlines 747, as it flew about 50 miles from Anchorage. An inexplicable image appeared on air traffic control and military computers, and the three pilots flying the plane claimed they saw a UFO.

"The pilot has it on his radar, and then the pilot and the other two guys in the cockpit look out the window, and they see him over here, and they see him over there, and they see him over here, and for 31 minutes," Callahan says.

The FAA said the incident was due to a radar malfunction. The CIA believed the pilots, Callahan says, but it buried the story. "The CIA said it was a UFO. The CIA said we're not going to tell the public, because it would scare the public. They told me that."

Stories like Callahan's were the subject of a symposium Friday in Washington, D.C. Reputable scientists and even a former NASA official concluded such stories may be more than just the visions of those with active imaginations.

"Within our own backyard, the Milky Way Galaxy, there could be literally 50 billion planets, of which 10 percent may be earthlike in nature," says Dr. Michio Kaku of City University of New York. "So it's hard to believe that God would create a universe and waste it, making all these barren planets."

Scientists say more funding needs to be devoted to determining if there is life on other planets -- and they acknowledge there is also the challenge of getting people to accept the idea of alien life.

That's an idea Callahan accepted two decades ago. "What I'm hoping is, before I die, to be able to say I told you so," he says.

Callahan continued to work for the FAA after the Japan Airlines incident. He is now retired and does some aviation consulting.

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FAA investigates JAL Flight 1628 UFO Sighting

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- The Federal Aviation Administration has stepped up efforts to determine the source of wavering lights that dogged a Japan Air Lines cargo jet across Alaska's night sky for nearly an hour in November. "We're looking at it to ensure that somebody didn't violate airspace we control," FAA spokesman Paul Steucke said Sunday. "We looked at it about six weeks ago, but since then we've gotten a lot of public interest, so we went back and re-interviewed the pilot. He provided us with additional information."

Veteran pilot Kenji Terauchi told investigators Friday through an interpreter that two of the lights were small, perhaps no larger than eight feet across. He said the third light was on an aircraft, a huge darkened globe with a diameter of perhaps two aircraft carriers placed end-to-end, Steucke said.

The pilot said the large UFO showed up on his cockpit weather radar. But images on military radar screens at the time were dismissed as "clutter," and a blip that showed up on FAA screens was analyzed as a coincidental "split image" of the aircraft, Steucke said.

Radar tapes, transcribed interviews and radio messages are to be sent to the FAA in Washington, D.C., later this week for review, Steucke said.

A JAL spokeswoman Sunday said Terauchi was on a flight to Europe and was unavailable.

Flight 1628, with a three-man crew, left Iceland on Nov. 17 with a load of wine bound for Tokyo from Paris. Terauchi and his crew picked up the Boeing 747 in Iceland for the Polar leg of the flight to Anchorage.

The evening sky was clear as the jet, cruising at 525 knots, crossed into Alaska from Canada, just northeast of Fort Yukon. At 6:19 p.m. (AST), as the plane flew at 35,000 feet, Terauchi said he saw three lights eight miles in front of his aircraft.

The pilot reported the lights were yellow, amber and green, Steucke said, but not red, the international color for aircraft beacons.

"The two smaller ones moved a little bit, changed their angle. The smaller ones did not show up on the weather radar onboard," Steucke said. "The larger one did.

"It appeared to him it might be possible that the lights might be exhaust pipes, they kind of wavered but did not blink. His main concern was trying to determine whether he was overtaking another aircraft."

Steucke said the pilot reported he dimmed cockpit lights to ensure he was not seeing a reflection.

"He flew for about six minutes before he decided to report anything," Steucke said. "I can't say I blame him for that." Terauchi radioed Anchorage FAA air controllers, who direct all aircraft traffic in the state, except for planes near airports, Steucke said. Fairbanks controllers checked their screens but saw only Flight 1628, Stuecke said.

The pilot reported the object was staying with him and controllers told him to take any evasive action needed. Terauchi decreased altitude to 31,000 feet, but the lights went down with him "in formation," Steucke said.

South of Fairbanks, Terauchi turned the plane in a complete circle to see if the lights would follow. "That was pretty clever," Steucke said. "It allowed him to eliminate any natural phenomenon which would have stayed stationary."

The lights stayed with the cargo jet, and moved to its left side, the pilot told the FAA.

Friday, he told investigators that there were no magnetic disturbances noted on the plane and no changes in its instruments or navigation systems, Stuecke said.

The FAA in Anchorage and the military in Alaska use the same long-range radar in Fairbanks, Steucke said. The FAA also uses sophisticated computer systems to screen clutter before it reaches radar screens, he said.

The military in Alaska does not use such computers, he said. "The military decided about a minute into this exercise that what it was seeing was clutter," he said. The Air Force did not send up an interceptor and is not investigating the matter, Steucke said. At the FAA center in Anchorage, controllers following the flight noted occasional second blips, or "split targets," on the screen near Flight 1628, Steucke said.

"That happens when the transponder aboard the aircraft is not electronically in sync with radar bouncing off the plane," he said. "We get an intermittent blip every three sweeps of the radar screen. It's not unusual. It has happened and it does happen.

"It was what I call coincidence that the split image happened to fall at the right distance and the same side of the aircraft that the object was reported by the pilot."

The lights vanished, heading east, when the JAL jet was about 80 miles north of Anchorage, Steucke said.

The FAA has ruled out alcohol or drugs as a factor in the sightings, Steucke said. "They were rational, professional pilots. I'd describe them as very sincere, very intense," Steucke said.

"I've been here 12 years, I've been with the FAA three, and I've talked to people who've been here seven or eight years and they don't recall anything like this," he said.

The FAA started investigating the report after the sighting, he said, but not as a top priority. "Basically, the public interest heightened the interest level. I wasn't hiding it, but I wasn't standing on a rooftop announcing it," he said.

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MUFOR: Japan Air Lines Flight 1628

In the late afternoon of November 17, 1986, Japan Air Lines flight 1628, a Boeing 747 with a crew of three, was nearing the end of a trip from Iceland to Anchorage, Alaska. The jet, carrying a cargo of French wine, was flying at 35,000 feet through darkening skies, a red glow from the setting sun lighting one horizon and a full moon rising above the other.

A little after six p.m., pilot Kenju Terauchi noticed white and yellow lights ahead, below, and to the left of his airplane. He could see no details in the darkness and assumed the lights were those of military aircraft. But they continued to pace the 747, prompting first officer Takanori Tamefuji to radio Anchorage air traffic control and ask if there were other aircraft nearby. Both Anchorage and a nearby military radar station announced that they were picking up weak signals from the 747's vicinity. Terauchi switched on the digital color cockpit weather radar, which is designed to detect weather systems, not other aircraft. His radar screen displayed a green target, a color usually associated with light rain, not the red he would have expected from a reflective solid object.

Because he was sitting in the left-hand seat, Terauchi had the only unobstructed view when the lights, still in front of and below the airplane, began moving erratically, "like two bear cubs playing with each other," as the pilot later wrote in a statement for the Federal Aviation Administration. After several minutes, the lights suddenly darted in front of the 747, "shooting off lights" that lit the cockpit with a warm glow.

As the airplane passed over Eielson Air Force Base, near Fairbanks, the captain said he noticed, looming behind his airplane, the dark silhouette of a gigantic "mothership" larger than two aircraft carriers. He asked air traffic control for permission to take his airplane around in a complete circle and then descend to 31,000 feet. Terauchi said his shadower followed him through both maneuvers.

A United Airlines fight and a military C-130 were both in the area and Anchorage asked the airplanes to change course, intercept the Japanese 747, and confirm the sighting. Both airplanes flew close enough to see JAL 1628's navigation lights, alone in the night sky, before Terauchi reported that the unidentified fyling objects had disappeared. The encounter had lasted nearly 50 minutes.

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Text of the written statement by Captain Terauchi:

We took a flight course southeast of Greenland direct to Chule, where a U.S. military base is, by crossing the great icy highland midwest of Greenland.The flight above Greenland, under a nearly full moon, which was raising on the right front side of our aircraft, helped visibility for the night flight. The flight was smooth despite the unstable air current that shook the plane for about two hours, but was still a rather stressless flight as compared to a passenger flight.We aimed towards Single Point, on the north coast of Canada, by passing through the Canadian north polar regions and down southwest along an Arctic flight course. It was 4:25 p.m., Alaska time, when we reported our location to Edmonton Center from above Single Point, Canada (68 degrees 55 minutes the North Latitude, 137 degrees 15 minutes West Longitude). It had become pitch dark, perhaps because the moon was directly behind us near the horizon.

We received an order from Edmonton Center that we should contact the Anchorage Center when we reach above Pottat where Alaska Territorial Air begins. Pottat locates approximately 480 miles, approximately 890 kilometers, North-northeast of Anchorage, 67 degrees 56 minutes North Latitude, 141 degrees West Longitude.We began the communication with the Anchorage Center about 5:05 p.m. The flight course we had acknowledged was Jet 529, direct to Ft. Yukon and Jet 125 via Nenana, Talkeetna, Chaiger and to Anchorage. The Anchorage Center ordered us to fly direct to Talkeetna, provided us transponder codes and placed us on a radar scope at the same time.

The strange phenomenon happened immediately after we began left rotation, following the order of taking the direct flight course.There was an unidentifiable light ahead of the rotation. We set the course toward Talkeetna and began level flight. Then we saw lights that looked like aircraft lights, 30 degrees left front, 2000 feet (600 meters) below us, moving exactly in the same direction and with the same speed as we were. We were at the altitude of 35,000 feet (10,600 meters), flying speed was 900 kilometer per hour to 910 kilometer per hour.We ignored the lights, thinking probably they were special missioned aircraft or two fighters because we did not notice the lights while communication with the Anchorage Center or on prior visual inspection. However, the position of the lights had not changed ever after a few minutes and that called our attention.

The First Officer, Tameto(?), called the Anchorage Center and asked to report to us if there were any aircraft other than ours in the area. The Anchorage Center told us that there were no other aircraft in the North area. We immediately reported back that we were seeing aircraft lights. They again reported that there was no military aircraft and the ground radar did not show any aircraft but us. They also asked us several times if there were clouds near our altitudes. We saw thin and spotty clouds near the mountain below us, no clouds in mid-to-upper air, and the air current was steady and conditions were quite pleasant. Perhaps the controllers were concerned that an increased use of improved lazer beams using clouds was creating moving images.

We kept observing the lights below us in left front, thinking it was ridiculous to have lazer beam testing at the end of a tundra area. Then the two lights began to move in a manner different from ordinary aircraft maneuvers, like two bear cubs playing with each other. We continued the flight South along a straight course since the distance from the lights was far enough from us and their movement was not extreme and we felt no immediate danger.

I thought perhaps it is one of those things called UFO and taking a photo might help to identify the object later. I asked to bring forward my camera bag that was placed in the rear of the cockpit and began to take a picture. The area in which the plane was flying was unchanged, but the lights were still moving strangely. I had ASA 100 film in my camera, mainly to take scenery and had auto-focus on, aimed at the object but the lens kept adjusting and never could set a focus. I changed auto-focus to manual-focus and pressed the shutter but this time the shutter would not close.

Then our aircraft started to vibrate and I gave up taking a photo. I placed my camera back in the camera bag and concentrated on observing the lights.It was about seven or so minutes since we began paying attention to the lights. Most unexpectedly two spaceships stopped in front of our face, shooting off lights. The inside cockpit shined brightly and I felt warm in the face. Perhaps the firing of jets was the result to kill inertia of their quick high speed maneuver, but the ships appeared as if they were stopped in one place in front of us.

Then three to seven seconds later a fire like from jet engines stopped and became a small circle of lights as they began to fly in level flight at the same speed as we were, showing numerous numbers of exhaust pipes. However, the center area of the ship where below an engine might be was invisible. The middle of the body of the ship sparked an occasionally stream of lights, like a charcoal fire, from right to left and from left to right. Its shape was a square, flying 500 feet to 1000 feet in front of us, very slightly higher in altitude than us, its size was about the same size as the body of a DC-8 jet, and with numerous exhaust pipes. The firing of the exhaust jets varied, perhaps to maintain balance, some became stronger than others and some became weaker than others, but seemed controlled automatically.

We did not feel threatened or in danger because the spaceship moved so suddenly. We probably would have felt more in danger and would have been prepared to escape if the spaceships were shaking unsteadily or were unable to stop themselves. It is impossible for any manmade machine to make a sudden appearance in front of a jumbo jet that is flying 910 kilometers per hour and to move along in a formation paralleling our aircraft. The ships moved in formation for about three to five minutes, then two ships moved forward in a line, again slightly higher in altitude as we were, 40 degrees to our left. We did not report this action to the Anchorage Center. Honestly, we were simply breathtaken. The VHF communication, both in transmitting and receiving were extremely difficult for ten or fifteen minutes while the little ships came close to us and often interfered with communication from the Anchorage Center; however, communication conditions became just as good as soon as the ships left us. There were no abnormalities in the equipment or the aircraft. I have no idea why they came so close to us.

Then again, there was a pale white flat light on the direction where the ships flew away, moving in a line along with us, in the same direction and same speed and in the same altitude as we were. Again, we began communicating with the Anchorage Center. We said that we could see a light in the 10 o'clock position at the same altitude and wondered if they could see anything in their radar. The Anchorage Center replied that they saw nothing in their radar. I thought it would be impossible to find anything on an aircraft radar if a large ground radar did not show anything, but I judged the distance of the object visually, and it was not very far. I set the digital weather radar distance in 20 miles, radar angle to horizon. There it was, on the screen: a large, green and a round object had appeared in seven or eight miles (13 kilometers to 15 kilometers) away, where the direction of the object was. We reported to the Anchorage Center that our aircraft radar caught the object within seven or eight miles in 10 o'clock position. We asked if they could catch it on the ground radar but did not seem they could at all. Normally, it appears in red when an aircraft radar catches another aircraft. I wonder if the metal used in the spaceship is different from ours. While we were communicating with the Anchorage Center, the two pale white lights gradually moved to the left side and to left diagonally back 30 degrees as if they understood our conversation and then when they were beside our aircraft they totally disappeared from our radar.

When they were in front of us, the ships were positioned slightly higher in altitude than we were, but now they placed themselves slightly below the horizon where it was most difficult for us to see. The distance between us was still about seven miles to eight miles visually. When we started to see Ft. Yukon diagonally below us at the right, the sun was setting down in the Southwest, painting the sky in a slightly red stripe, approximately two to three millimeters and gave a bit of light but the east side was still pitch dark. Far in front of us there were lights increasing from the U.S. Military Eielson Air Force Base and Fairbanks. The lights were still following us at exactly the same distance; however, it was too dark to identify by only the lights whether or not they were the same two spaceships that appeared in front of us a few minutes ago. It seemed that we were flying in the lighter side and gave them the advantage of being on the dark side.

We had no fears so far but began to worry since we had no idea for their purpose. When the lights from the Eielson Air Force Base and Fairbanks became clear and bright, two very bright lights appeared suddenly from the North from a belt of lights, perhaps four or five mountains away. The extremely bright lights reflected on the snow on the side of the mountains and seemed even brighter. We wondered if they were searching something on the ground surface or to (attract?) lead something. The flight above Alaska territory is generally in the daytime, and it is confusing to identify the kind of lights. It cannot be a base for the spaceship. Is it a move? There was something. Oh, yes, it is the Alaska pipeline. The lights must be a pump station for the pipeline. I got it.

We arrived at the sky above the Eielson Air Force Base and Fairbanks. It was a clear night. The lights were extremely bright to eyes that were used to the dark. How bright it was! We were just above the bright city lights and we checked the pale white light behind us. Alas! There was a silhouette of a gigantic spaceship. We must run away quickly! "Anchorage Center. This is JL 1628, requesting a change of course to right 45 degrees." It felt like a long time before we received permission. When we checked our rear there was still the ship following us. "This is JL 1628. Again requesting for change the course 45 degrees to the right." We had to get away from that object. "JL 1628. This is Anchorage Center. We advise you, continue and take 360 degree turn." "JL 1628, thank you. We will continue 360 degree turn."It was too slow to circle in the auto-pilot mode; therefore, we switched to the manual mode and set to turn right on a 30 degrees bank. We looked to our right forward, but did not see any light. We were relieved, thinking the object may have left us and returned to the level flight but when we checked to our rear the object was still there in exactly the same place. "Anchorage Center, this is JL 1628. The object follows us in formation. We request a change in altitude, 31,000 feet, yes, 31,000 feet." "This is Anchorage Center, JL 1628, ascend to 31,000 feet."

The consumption of fuel during this flight was almost as expected but there was only 3,800 pounds left and as such was not enough for extra flying, for running around. We have got to arrive at Anchorage. "Anchorage Center, this is JL 1628. We request permission for the direct flight to Talkeetna." "JL 1628, this is the Anchorage Center, we authorize the direct flight to Talkeetna." We checked behind us again. The ship was in formation and ascending with us. We wondered and feared as to their purpose. "JL 1628, this is the Anchorage Center. Would you like to request scramble for confirmation?" "The Anchorage Center, this is JL 1628. We would not request scramble." We turned the offer down quickly.

I knew that in the past there was a U.S. military fighter called the mustang that had flown up high for a confirmation and a tragedy had happened to it. Even the F-15 with the newest technology had no guarantee of safety against the creature with an unknown degree of scientific technology. We flew toward Talkeetna at an altitude of 31,000 feet. The spaceship was still following us, not leaving us at all.

About the same time, a United Airline passenger aircraft which had left Anchorage to Fairbanks flew into the same air zone and began communicating with the Anchorage Center. We heard them transmitting that there was an object near JL 1628 and requesting for confirmation. We heard that the Anchorage Center was saying to the United Airline aircraft that JL 1628 was at an altitude of 31,000 feet, therefore, United Airline should maintain an altitude of 33,000 feet. It sounded as if Anchorage Center had the United Airline aircraft fly above the spaceship. We were flying the east side of Mt. McKinley. The United Airline aircraft came close to us. The United Airline aircraft requested us to flash landing lights for visual confirmation and we both confirmed our positions visually. The United Airline aircraft was coming close to us. We knew that they were watching us. When the United plane came by our side, the spaceship disappeared suddenly and there was nothing but the light of the moon.The strange encounter ended at 75 miles North of Talkeetna, 150 miles (Approximately 276 kilometers) away from Anchorage. It comprised approximately 50 minutes of flight time. - U.S. Federal Aviation Administration

Sources:
www.ufoevidence.org
www.freedomofinfo.org
www.ktuu.com
Associated Press
United Press International
www.mufor.org
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
www.ufocasebook.com
www.aliensthetruth.com

Click for video - JAL Flight 1628 UFO Incident Over Alaska New Re-creation 2010

Fortean / Alternative News: Jupiter Asteroid Impact, Paranormal Links and Another Aflockalypse Explanation

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 08:59 AM PST

These images made by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, show particle debris in Jupiter's atmosphere (bright smudges at lower left) after an object hurtled into the atmosphere on July 19, 2009. The image at left was captured July 20, 2009; at right, Aug. 16, 2009.
NASA/IRTF/JPL-Caltech/University of Oxford

Asteroid the Size of the Titanic Rocked Jupiter

space - The object that plowed into Jupiter in 2009, creating a giant scar, was most likely an asteroid the size of the Titanic, rather than a comet, the latest evidence suggests.

Astronomers, presuming Jupiter had already cleared most of the asteroids out of its gravitational sphere of influence, initially suspected it was a comet that tore through the gas giant's atmosphere and exploded on July 19, 2009. But follow-up research in 2010 began to push the investigation back toward an asteroid strike.

Two newly published studies of the Jupiter impact and its resulting debris cloud have pinned the blame more firmly on an asteroid.

"We weren't expecting to find that an asteroid was the likely culprit in this impact, but we've now learned Jupiter is getting hit by a diversity of objects," said researcher Paul Chodas, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in a statement released yesterday (Jan. 26).

Studying the impact

The scar caused by the impact was first spotted by an Australian amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley. A wealth of follow-up observations using ground and space telescopes then followed.

Chodas and other researchers, who reported their findings in two recent papers in the journal Icarus, said they had used several different infrared telescopes to study the scar as it evolved over the first week or so.

They determined that the collision had warmed Jupiter's lower stratosphere by 5.4 to 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (3 to 4 degrees Celsius). That may not sound like much, but it signals a huge deposition of energy, since the warming was spread over such an enormous area, researchers said.

The asteroid had carved a channel of super-heated gas and debris as it streaked through Jupiter's atmosphere.

Then, at some point deep below the clouds, it exploded, releasing energy equivalent to 5 gigatons of TNT, the researchers said — about 250,000 times more energy than was released by the atomic bomb that the United States dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 to end World War II.

The massive explosion launched gas and debris back out along the channel, above Jupiter's clouds. This stuff then splashed back down into the atmosphere, warming it substantially and creating aerosol particulates.

The researchers trained their infrared telescopes on the impact site, studying the chemical composition of the stirred-up debris. They found signatures of hydrocarbons, silicas and silicates, but no evidence of carbon monoxide. This unique chemical mix points strongly to an asteroid rather than a comet, they said.

Assuming the impactor had a rocklike density of around 2.5 grams per cubic centimeter, the researchers calculated its diameter to be 660 to 1,650 feet (200 to 500 meters). That would make the asteroid about the size of the ill-fated Titanic ocean liner, NASA officials said. The Titanic was 882 feet long, 92 feet wide at its widest point, and 175 feet tall (269 meters by 28 meters by 53 meters).

Comets not always to blame

Before the July 2009 strike, the last object known to smash into Jupiter was comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994, researchers said. Amateur astronomers also reported spotting fireballs on Jupiter, possibly from new impacts, in June and August of 2010.

Observations made by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope showed that the debris from the 2009 collision was heavier or denser than that caused by the 1994 impact, researchers said. These results further strengthen the case that different types of objects were to blame.

An asteroid impactor comes as a bit of a surprise. Before the 2009 event, most scientists had thought that the only objects that hit Jupiter were icy comets whose unstable orbits brought them close enough to be sucked in by the giant planet's gravity.

It was thought Jupiter had already cleared most other objects, including asteroids, from its sphere of influence, researchers said. But modeling studies performed by the researchers identified one asteroid whose chaotic orbit could well send it smashing into Jupiter someday, further suggesting that asteroids are viable impactors.

"Both the fact that the impact itself happened at all and the implication that it may well have been an asteroid rather than a comet shows us that the outer solar system is a complex, violent and dynamic place, and that many surprises may be out there waiting for us," said co-author Glenn Orton of JPL. "There is still a lot to sort out in the outer solar system."

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Report: Japanese elderly shoplifting hits record high

BBC - More than a quarter of shoplifters arrested in Japan in 2010 were over the age of 65, police have said, as the number of pensioners committing the crime hit a record high.

In an annual report, the National Police Agency said 27,362 pensioners were arrested for shoplifting in 2010 - almost equalling teenagers.

Most of them stole food or clothes rather than luxury items, the NPA said.

Japanese society is ageing rapidly and its economy remains stalled.

More than 20% of the population are now over the age of 65 - a figure which is expected to rise to about 40% by 2050.

A police official told the Mainichi newspaper that pensioners were shoplifting not just for financial reasons "but also out of a sense of isolation peculiar to the age".

In recent decades the traditional three-generation household structure has changed - more young people have moved to cities to find employment, leaving elderly parents on their own.

Pensioners who want to work have also found it harder to find jobs because of the economic crunch.

Police say the record high - with pensioners comprising 26.1% of all shoplifters - represents a persistent trend.

When record keeping began in 1986, the number of pensioners arrested stood at 4,918. It has climbed since then, hitting 10,000 in 1999 and 20,000 in 2004.

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Scientists Say 'Blunt Force Trauma' Killed Arkansas Blackbirds

aolnews - Scientists investigating the death of thousands of blackbirds in Arkansas say they've identified the cause of death: blunt force trauma.

Locals in Beebe, Ark., were mystified when as many as 5,000 red-winged blackbirds dropped out of the sky Dec. 31.

Studies commissioned by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ruled out possible causes such as disease and poison.

The tests revealed hemorrhaging "consistent with blunt trauma," according to a Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. "In most instances, such traumatic injuries in wild birds are due to flying into stationary objects such as trees, houses, windows, power lines, towers, etc."

There has been a string of mass animal deaths so far this year, from dead fish in the Detroit River to hundreds of dead starlings in South Dakota.

Arkansas blackbirds have poor eyesight and don't normally fly at night. The AGFC said the birds were probably disturbed by "unusually loud noises" and flew lower than normal due to New Year's Eve fireworks. The rare night flight was even recorded on radar data.

"The first exodus occurred about 10:20 [p.m.] and contained approximately 6,000 to 7,000 birds per cubic kilometer," said Sidney Gauthreaux, professor emeritus at Clemson University. "At 11:21 p.m., another pulse of birds with a slightly smaller density left the roost."

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture admitted it was behind the death of hundreds of starlings in South Dakota. The USDA said it put out poisoned bait for the birds after a local farmer complained they were defecating in his animal feed.

A local said that the birds made the streets of Yankton, S.D., look like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

In Arkansas, the mystery of the red-winged blackbirds may be solved, but officials are still mystified as to what killed more than 80,000 freshwater drum in the Arkansas River last December.

So far, officials have ruled out bacteria, viruses and parasites as the culprit, according to the Arkansas Times.

"Unfortunately, we probably will never know exactly what killed these fish," said AGFC Assistant Chief of Fisheries Chris Racey.

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Argentina: A Swimming Pool Drained Dry

Inexplicata - It never fails. The minute we went to print with article on "the missing water enigma", the water thieves struck again in Argentina. Synchronicity? Perhaps. But the story of the latest event is best told by UFO photographer and researcher Martha Nuñez in her own article for the "Estás en Posse" website .

Argentina: Swimming Pool Drained Dry in Justiniano Posse
By Martha Núñez
www.estasenposse.com.ar

Residents of Justiniano Posse are dumbfounded by the report that a swimming pool was found dry in less than a day.

This was the case involving Lilo Garcia, owner of the Hotel Maykel, who informed local media of what happened in this back yard.

"When Lucio Ciotti when to clean the pool, he found there was no water. He called me and said: What did you do? There's no water in the pool!" I replied: "Yeah, right - there's no water." He said: "No, no, come on over" and well, I went and...it was dry! There wasn't a drop of water. You could look around and there was no water. I don't understand, because when we drain the pool to clean it, such an amount of water takes a day and a half to drain. We flood the patio and the water runs down the street all the way down to the canal. But this time there was nothing! Not a single drop of water anywhere around."

Lucio Ciotti, responsible for the pool's maintenance, inspected it, swept it and ascertained that it wasn't split, and there were no cracks.

We're talking about a 60,000 liter swimming pool, relieved of water from one day to the next. Filling it requires six trucks, so anyone stealing the water would need at least 5 trucks, and would take at half a day to do the job, as a minimum, since there was no water splashed outside the pool. No trace of moisture whatsoever.

"If they'd dumped it on the patio or anywhere nearby, there would be a pond! I don't understand. The pool was dry enough to paint it. We laughed with Lucio and couldn't understand what was happening," Lilo remarked.

García says that the pool has no cracks, as he has filled it once more and the water has not leaked away. "I have no opinion! This is a mystery for history to resolve," says the owner of the Hotel Maykel.

Believe it or not, the 60,000 liters are gone, nobody saw anything, the patio is dry and there is no sign of trucks circulating anywhere in the vicinity.

So...who took the water?

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Revealed: Medical students are performing intrusive exams on unconscious patients

new.com.au - Australian medical students are carrying out intrusive procedures on unconscious and anaesthetised patients without gaining the patient's consent. The unauthorised examinations include genital, rectal and breast exams, and raise serious questions about the ethics of up-and-coming doctors. The research, soon to be published in international medical journal, Medical Education, describes - among others - a student with "no qualms" about performing an anal examination on a female patient because she didn't think the woman's consent was relevant.

Another case outlined in the research describes a man who was subjected to rectal examinations from a "queue" of medical students after he was anaesthetised for surgery. "I was in theatre, the patient was under a spinal (anaesthetic) as well and there was a screen up and they just had a queue of medical students doing a rectal examination," a student confessed. "[H]e wasn't consented but because ... you're in that situation, you don't have the confidence to say 'no' you just do it."

The author of the study, Professor Charlotte Rees, voiced concerns about senior medical staff ordering students to perform unauthorised procedures, leaving the students torn between the strong ethics of consent in society and the weak ethics of medical staff. Of students who were put in this position during the research, 82 per cent obeyed orders. "We think that it is weakness in the ethical climate of the clinical workplace that ultimately serves to legitimise and reinforce unethical practices in the context of students learning intimate examinations," writes Prof Rees. The study consists of 200 students across three unnamed medical schools in Britain and Australia. Not all participants agreed to carry out the intimate examinations without permission from the patient.

One student refused to take part in an examination of a woman who was "part spread-eagled on the bed and the nurse is (sic) pulling down her jeans at the same time and it was all very complicated and you could see her, she was about seventeen". Carol Bennett, the CEO of the Consumer Health Forum, said the report was a "poor reflection on these medical schools that they are setting these examples. Most people would not be pleased about having medical procedures performed on them without it even being mentioned to them," she said. "Patients should never be examined without consent, particularly by a third party."

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