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One December evening in 1986, reports Shukan Shincho (Dec 7), two Kyodo News journalists presented themselves by appointment at the London hotel room of JAL pilot by the name of Terauchi. He had a story for them – but should he be telling it? Should they be listening? Are UFOs serious? Journalism is a skeptical trade, and as for pilots, even if they do spot strange lights, objects and movements in the sky for which they can conceive no other explanation, they are expected to keep their suspicions to themselves. Their livelihood depends on passengers' confidence. Talk of UFOs does not encourage it. So Terauchi, in granting the interview, was stepping out on a limb. He later paid the price. On Nov 17, 1986, he told the Kyodo journalists, he was chief pilot on JAL flight 1628, Narita-bound from Paris. The first stop was Keflavik, Iceland; the second, Anchorage, Alaska. At 5:10 p.m. local time the plane, a Boeing-747 jumbo, was flying 10,600 meters over Alaska. It was dusk, not quite dark. "Suddenly," Terauchi said, "600 meters below, I saw what looked like two belts of light. I checked with the Anchorage control tower. They said nothing was showing on their radar." But something was emitting those lights, and whatever it was seemed interested in the jumbo, for it adjusted its speed to match to match the plane's – "like they were toying with us," said Terauchi. That went on for seven minutes or so. "Then there was a kind of reverse thrust, and the lights became dazzlingly bright. Our cockpit lit up. The thing was flying as if there was no such thing as gravity. It sped up, then stopped, then flew at our speed, in our direction, so that to us it looked like it was standing still. The next instant it changed course. There's no way a jumbo could fly like that. If we tried, it'd break apart in mid-air. In other words, the flying object had overcome gravity." Five minutes later, the object vanished in the gathering darkness, but soon another, much larger object, "several tens of times larger than a jumbo jet," which itself is some 70 meters long, appeared, bathed in blue light. Again the control tower radar registered nothing. Terauchi noticed unusual silhouettes over Fairbanks, Alaska. The object vanished. The jumbo landed at 6:24 p.m. and the passengers disembarked, not so much as suspecting what a harrowing experience their pilot had been through. What to make of this? It's tempting to say Terauchi's imagination got the better of him; but he's an ex-fighter pilot with more than 10,000 flying hours under his belt. He would know, if anyone would, how to keep his imagination in check. Another theory Shukan Shincho hears is that the lights the pilot saw were from Jupiter and Mars, which in fact would have been visible on the jumbo's flight path on the night in question. It's possible, but again – would a man with Terauchi's experience and training be so easily fooled? There are other possibilities, among them a secret U.S. military operation or development, about which nothing is known precisely because it is secret. Or maybe it really was what Terauchi says it was – a UFO. In any case, Terauchi was shortly afterwards grounded by JAL for talking to the press. He was given a desk job, and only reinstated as a pilot years afterwards. Now 67 and retired, he lives quietly with his wife in a small town in north Kanto, and talks about the adventure as little as possible. "I spoke to a doctor – he said it was an illusion," he tells Shukan Shincho. "You saw something you weren't meant to see," his wife says consolingly. That, if nothing else, seems certain.
December 8, 2006
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Japan Today DiscussionPost Your Opinion! 53 Total Messages (Click here to show all) 15 Messages Shown (Scroll down for most recent) | Regarding UFOs and ETs |  | taka13 (Dec 27 2006 - 17:26) | Rate | Report |
I just don't see how anyone would think there ISN'T life on other planets. When you think about the fact that our sun is a star with 9 (is it still 9?) planets revolving around it and that there are BILLIONS of stars, I just find it very very hard to believe that we are the only ones in the universe. Let's say for instance that it's a 1 in a BILLION shot that there is life on another planet. Those are pretty long odds but considering that there billions of stars and a lot of those stars have more than one planet revolving around it, well, that makes the odds a lot better. I'd bet on it. Taka | Actually the odds of life forming somewhere |  | leathers (Dec 27 2006 - 19:24) | Rate | Report |
are much much greater than a billion to one, they're astronomical, which is one argument for the existence of God, that the chances of everything coming together on Earth to create life were so infintesimally small that there must have been a helping hand somewhere along the way. | A billion to one.... |  | taka13 (Dec 27 2006 - 19:56) | Rate | Report |
isn't considered astronomical? Seriously, you present a good argument leathers and as a Christian, I appreciate the nod toward God but I still think that when you consider ALLLLL of those stars and ALLLLLL of the potential planets revolving around said stars, that this one is the only one with life on it seems a bit of a stretch. Have yourself a good one. Taka | leathers |  | notlikeyou (Dec 27 2006 - 22:30) | Rate | Report |
... which is one argument for the existence of God, that the chances of everything coming together on Earth to create life were so infintesimally small that there must have been a helping hand somewhere along the way. Jeez ... another proof of incredible shortmindness from the religious people! Let me ask you this : imagine that, we, the human beings from earth, manage to successsfully terraform Mars in the next 400 years. Would it make us a "God"?? Would the Martians have to worship the guy who pushed the button?? Also, if you spent more time reading scientific materials, you would know that comets have the means to bring life on other worlds. Excuse me, but I don't see any hand here. It's just a piece of rock. And lastly, yes, the odds of life AS WE KNOW IT ON EARTH are big. But, it doesn't mean that other forms of life can't start/evolve under non-Earth-like words. Speaking of odds, they are uncalculable because we don't even know how many universes there are. | not like you, relax man.... |  | leathers (Dec 28 2006 - 16:42) | Rate | Report |
Jeez ... another proof of incredible shortmindness from the religious people! Hello? Anyone home? Were you not able to see that what I said was not a personal proposal? I'm not one of those "religios people" you talk about, but I am interested in hearing opposing points of view to my own. If you'd explored the points you raised deeper, you would have answered your own questions. What a god is is a very deep question, and many people would answer that yes, we would be gods to those martians if there are any. And if you'd read all the "scientific journals" I have, you would know that some scientists themselves claim that because the odds of life evolving anywhere of it's own accord, are so small that it proves the existence of a superbeing. Anyway, if you've never heard this argument put forward as one to support the existence of God I don't know if you have the life experience neccessary to be able to make an intelligent comment here. It is a standard argument proposed by religious people, argued and debated for hundreds of years. You're not going to deny it in one little snippet on JT. | What the hell is going on? |  | leathers (Dec 30 2006 - 17:11) | Rate | Report |
Which moronic idiot is taking off completely acceptable posts!!!! Moderator: Posts that do not refer to UFO sightings and the incident in this story are off topic. | Two Other Pilots Saw Same Object |  | NickTrop (Jan 2 2007 - 02:31) | Rate | Report |
There were two other pilots in two different flights who observed what was presumabley the same object seemingly studying their aircraft near the event described by the japanese pilot, Kuchikomi, over Alaskan airspace in the JAL case. The main object (there were three reported by Kuchikomi in the first incident, only one in subsequent instances) was described as being twice the size of an aircraft carrier. The initial JAL event occured on Nov. 17, 1986. The UFO was not initially picked up on the tower's radar but was later picked up on military radar, and the military considered (but didn't) sending jets out to escort the airliner, per pilot to tower communications records. Next, a military KC135 described the same UFO (and even referenced what the Japanese pilot saw in their communications with the base) over Alaskan airspace on January 30, 1987, two months after the JAL sighting, but it was not picked up by radar this time. The next day - on January 31, 1987, the pilots aboard Alaska Airlines flight 53 reported seeing the same object, which this time also appeared as "a blip" on their radar moving at tremendous velocity (a mile a second). A facinating documentary about this case can be viewed here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3949790119588474060&q=UFO&hl=enThis documentary includes the original/actual pilot to tower communications for all three incidents. I am very skeptical regarding UFO encounters. I believe 99.99% are frauds, and don't place much stock in photographic evidence - too easy to make convincing fakes, especially in the digital age. Roswell, as well, is also bunk. However, this particular wave that happened two decades ago over Alaska is one that tips the scale to me in favor of some form of intelligence with advanced capabilities visiting/studing (we hope) our planet and our species. Not one, but three experienced pilots in three separate instances - two with radar verification, over approximately the same airspace, report the seeing same thing - an enormous walnut-like object bigger than an aircraft carrier that can travel "a mile a second"(?) Sorry, we don't have such vessels and capabilities currently - no way. When it's picked up on military radar in the first - the JAL case, the military was concerned enough to check out the craft. Check out the documentary. Facinating stuff, hard to refute. | The Drake Equation |  | NickTrop (Jan 2 2007 - 03:22) | Rate | Report |
The Drake Equation - formulated by astronomer Dr. Frank Drake in 1961, postulates that there are approx. 10,000 "communicative species" in our galaxy alone. Later, more conservative estimates using the Drake equation, estimate the number to be closer to 1000 communicative species in our galaxy. Though it is controversial and has been criticized in terms of the criteria it uses to arrive at these estimates, it is generally regarded as a statistically valid methodology whose prerequisites for life are regarded as sound enough to guestimate the existance of intelligent/"communicative" species elsewhere in the universe. It's "the best guess" we've got. Note both optimistic and conservative estimates based on the Drake equation number in the thousands; they're not zero, or one-sies, or two-sies. The scientific revolution is dated roughly as having begun in 1543, when Copernicus published "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres", although some historians mark our early work in chemistry and biology in the 18th and 19th centuries as the beginning of the scientific era. Regardless of the varying opinions of historians, in terms relative to our existance as a species, science can only be viewed as being in its infancy, perhaps even embryionic stages. It is utter folly to suggest that interstellar travel is impossible from where we sit now in terms of our ability to predict, explain, and control the matter, non-matter (space/time), and the forces (which we have little understanding of, currently. We don't even know what gravity is or what light is (particle, wave, or particle/wave), or have anything close to a handle on quantum object behavior. Yet, given what little we know, science continues to astound. So, let's be conservative, and say there are 1000 "communicative species" in our galaxy alone. Let's say .0025 (wild arse guess) are species whose science is 1000, 10,000, a million years more advanced than our own, and have achieved the ability of interstellar travel. That would be three species in our galaxy alone, capable of paying us a visit. These are conservative estimates. And cases like the Alaska event(s) of twenty years ago, along with perhaps a dozen other good, solid, UFO cases over the past 50 years make this a difficult reality to refute. Let's just hope our UFO friends are not a pitiful species like us (as sadly exemplified by our current president and most AM hate-jock listening "conservatives")... war mongers, territorial, militaristic, with absolutely zero value of our environment, zero regard for other forms of life on our planet, and zero regard for the life other members of our own species with minor genetic or philosophical differences. | NickTrop |  | UnagiDon (Jan 2 2007 - 12:04) | Rate | Report |
You're making one of the very fundamental mistakes that UFO aficionados often so - making the huge logical leap that an unexplained phenomena can only be explained by alien spacecraft, ergo UFO=flying saucer. All such sightings, including the one you've described above, suffer from that one d@mning fact, and that is that there is no/none/zero physical evidence to support this idea. No one has ever produced anything that can say that unidentified things in the sky are alien spacecraft - that seems to just be a conclusion that people want to believe is true. As for the Drake Equation, you're bending the truth in what you've said or at least "begging the question." Saying that there are "conservative estimates" about the Equation and that it says there are 10,000 intelligent species in the galaxy is flat-out wrong. You fail to mention that nobody has the slightest degree of confidence in several of the variables in the equation, i.e. % of stars with planets, % of planets with life, % with intelligent life, % of intelligent life that goes extinct, etc. ALL of those are wild estimates, and no reasonable scientist (note that I said scientist) is going to pretend otherwise. The only definite thing you can says about the equation is that the number of intelligent species in the galaxy is equal to or greater than 1 (that would be us), and somewhat less than the number of stars in the galaxy. No greater precision is possible, especially attaching a definite number to it. "Wild arse speculation" applies to most of it. You also make another common logical leap of faith re the Drake Equation, and that is assuming that intelligent civilizations, assuming they exist, are visiting us. There is no reason to assume this - there may be a hundred intelligent civilizations in our galaxy but that doesn't mean we should believe that they get their kicks buzzing airliners in brightly-lit craft with intermittently-working stealth systems. Look up the Fermi Paradox - far more interesting. Believing that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy should not be a rationalization to believe in flying-saucers. I believe in UFOs (things people can't identify in the sky), but not that they're alien spacecraft. | Something To Consider |  | matsellah (Jan 3 2007 - 08:47) | Rate | Report |
Are there UFO's? Odds are in their favor. Have we had contact with them? I think so. If we have, why doesn't the whole world know? Hmmm... let me ask a question first. Are there people on Earth far more capable of comprehending (and accepting) life outside outside of our planet than others? Well, there were people far more capable of accepting Earth as just another stone in space, instead of the glorious position it was suppose to have had. Galileo paid the price for his acceptance. It seems fairly certain that if someone were to suddenly appear on the news and declare we're not alone in the Heavens and that we've made contact and it's not God, that there would be just as much of a chance that there would be other people (re: groups, societies, governments... religions) who would choose to disbelieve or dispute or just plain ignore or not accept this news and might even go as far as to assault or war on whomever made the announcement. Just because you're the leader of something doesn't guarantee you're immune from being an idiot. Want to believe in UFO's? By now, you've probably asked yourself why you would consider such a thing. Want to NOT believe? You should probably ask yourself why you wouldn't. | belief or not. |  | takuan (Jan 3 2007 - 09:24) | Rate | Report |
say there is extra-terrestrial intelligence and civilization we could recognize. I personally do since I have a small idea of how large the observable universe is - the odds are in favour 100%. The question is: does it matter? They ain't talking to us, we can't seem to talk to them. Other life doesn't blow my religious bubble apart since I don't have one. What are we missing? Who knows? I see so much here that we are missing for lack of effort that it is hardly a loss to know what else we are wasting. Yes, they are out there. Yes, we are here. Had't we better get to work? The supreme irony will be the discovery that humans are the most morally advanced form of life in the universe. | Another idea : |  | notlikeyou (Jan 3 2007 - 19:26) | Rate | Report |
If the UFOs are really extra-terrestrial spaceships, the reason why they don't bother trying to communicate with us could be that life is already too diverse in the universe. Thus, they don't have any reason to interact with us because : - there are soo many places where they can go/live already. - we are too small, we lack resources (we have only one planet). - our solar system is located too far from the center of the galaxy, where maybe all the things happen ;) | JAL pilot's UFO story surfaces after 20 years |  | nisegaijin (Jan 4 2007 - 13:37) | Rate | Report |
what did co-pilot have to say? weren't they flying 3-men crew back then? there shouold have been other peaple who wittnessed that. | incomplete story? |  | lowcog (Jan 18 2007 - 13:12) | Rate | Report |
x2 nisegaijin i was thinking the same thing. also would any of the passangers see anything? it is hard for me to believe that no one else would notice such a intense light show. | Evolutionists, brain dead now, brain dead forever. |  | evAngeliis (Mar 27 2007 - 22:55) | Rate | Report |
You don't even remotely think what the object could be besides aliens. No aliens exist out there, God never said He created them. If He did create some alien life forms out there, then why are they bound by the laws of entropy governing the Universe, the Curse basically. 1. Objects not bound by our laws of physics. 2. No interaction. 3. Gone. A spirit can do all these things, I doubt an angel would be the culprit. Satan has been cast down, out of Heaven, where is he & his demons to go? Location: Earth. Alot of sightings can simply be demons, don't know why the hell we get to see them, but they don't have a pre-determined form as we would think. They can pop in & out of our dimensions at will. Hear 1 second, gone the next. They would know that people straight away suspect aliens in this day & age, keeping your mind off the demons enemy, God. All they have to do is appear for a short time and you noobs go off saying, ALIENS!!! UFO....ALIENS!!! The odds of life spontaneously arising by "chance" on Earth is is less than if our whole solar system were filled with blind men, all holding rubiks cubes...aligning all the colours as they should be at the EXACT same time. Go figure those numbers, tiz more than there are atoms in the Universe. Evolution has no benefit to mankind execpt trying to elevate us to a god-status, ridding mankind of God's judgement. Bad idea, you will pay dearly one day. And you can look back on all the times creationists told you, NO ALIENS. Evolutionism is a patheic excuse for science, no wait, it isn't even science. Evolution is a religion, fervently worshipped by the media to fool this generation, satan is doing a good job so far. Sleep tonight knowing satan owns your soul & eternal destiny. |  |
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