JAL Flight 1628 over Alaska
The account
A Japanese cargo jet was followed by lights and an enormous craft for nearly an hour.
What investigators found
The FAA found no conclusive proof; skeptics suggest the crew saw bright planets and reflections.
The story
On the night of November 17, 1986, a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 freighter was crossing Alaska on its way to Anchorage. Captain Kenju Terauchi reported lights pacing the aircraft and, later, the silhouette of an immense object. Air traffic control even picked up radar returns that seemed to confirm something near the plane.
The FAA investigated and concluded that the radar data were ambiguous and did not establish that another object was present. Skeptic Philip Klass argued that the crew saw Jupiter and Mars, both very bright at the time, distorted by the atmosphere. Terauchi stood by his account, and the case remains one of the most famous in commercial aviation.