>>The  following  constitutes  the  entire  text  of the press release from 
CSICOP in Buffalo, concerning the recent "JALaska" UFO.
______________________________________

EXTRATERRESTRIAL  OBJECT  INVOLVED IN JAPAN AIR LINES PILOT'S UFO SIGHTING, 
ACCORDING TO UFO INVESTIGATOR

     Buffalo,   NY   -  An  investigation  of  the  incident  in  which  an 
Unidentified  Flying  Object reportedly paced a Japan Air Lines 747 enroute 
to  Anchorage, Alaska, for nearly 40 minutes on Nov. 18, 1986, reveals that 
at  least  one  extraterrestrial object was involved -- the planet Jupiter, 
and possibly another -- Mars.

     The   investigation   was   conducted   by   Philip   J.   Klass,   an 
internationally   recognized   UFOlogist   and  chairman  of  CSICOP's  UFO 
Subcommittee.  His  investigations  have  yielded  prosaic explanations for 
many famous UFO cases during the past 20 years.

     At  the  time  the UFO incident began near Ft. Yukon, the JAL airliner 
was  flying  south  in  twilight  conditions  so  that  an extremely bright 
Jupiter  (-2.6  magnitude) would have been visible on the pilot's left-hand 
side,  where  he first reported seeing the UFO, according to Klass. Jupiter 
was  only 10 degrees above the horizon, making it appear to the pilot to be 
at  roughly  his  own  35,000  ft.  altitude.  Mars,  slightly lower on the 
horizon, was about 20 degrees to the right of Jupiter but not as bright. 

     Although  the  very  bright  Jupiter,  and less bright Mars, had to be 
visible  to JAL Capt. Kenjyu Terauchi, the pilot never once reported seeing 
either  -- only a UFO that he described as being a "white and yellow" light 
in  his initial radio report to Federal Aviation Administration controllers 
at Anchorage. 

     Many  of  the  colorful  details  of  the incident carried by the news 
media,  largely based on the six-week-old recollections of the pilot of JAL 
Flight  1628,  are  contradicted by a transcript of radio messages from the 
pilot to FAA controllers while the incident was in progress. 

     For  example, news media accounts quoting the 747 pilot said that when 
he  executed  a  360 degree turn, the UFO had followed him around the turn. 
But  this  claim  is contrary to what the pilot told FAA controllers at the 
time.

     During  the  pilot's  media  interviews, he "remembered" some colorful 
details  which did not really occur, judging from his earlier radio reports 
to  the  FAA,  and  Terauchi  "forgot"  several important events that would 
challenge his claim of being paced by an unknown craft.

     For  example,  that  another  airliner,  United  Airlines  Flight  69, 
heading  north  from Anchorage to Fairbanks, had agreed to deviate slightly 
from  its  course  to  allow  FAA  radar  controllers  to  vector it to the 
vicinity  of  the  JAL  747,  while  maintaining safe altitude and distance 
separation, to see if the United crew could spot the UFO.
     
     At  approximately  4:48  PM, as the United flight neared JAL, Terauchi 
reported  that  the  UFO  was to his far left and about 10 miles distant -- 
which  was  in  the  direction  of Jupiter. At  roughly 4:50 PM, the United 
pilot  reported  he  now  could  see  JAL but a short time later the United 
pilot said: "I don't see anybody around him."

     Shortly  afterwards, the JAL pilot reported that the UFO now was "just 
ahead  of United" which is where Jupiter would appear to be from Terauchi's 
location.  The  United pilot would not notice Jupiter because it was to his 
right while his attention was focused on JAL which was to his far left.

     Shortly  afterward,  the  pilot  of a USAF C-130 transport in the area 
volunteered  to  be  vectored to the vicinity of the JAL airliner to see if 
he  could spot any object near the airliner. The C-130 crew readily spotted 
the JAL 747, but they too could not see any object in its vicinity.

     "This  is  not the first time that an experienced pilot has mistaken a 
bright  celestial  body for a UFO, nor will it be the last," Klass said. In 
one  case, investigated by the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek in the early 1950's, 
a  military pilot chased a "UFO" for more than 30 minutes, which turned out 
to  be  the  bright  star  Capella. In this case, as with the recent Alaska 
incident,  a  radar operator reported briefly seeing an unknown blip on his 
radar scope.

     During  World  War  II,  B-29  pilots flying at night from the Mariana 
Islands  in  the Pacific to bomb Japan reported being paced by a mysterious 
"ball-of-fire",  which  B-29  gunners tried, unsuccessfully, to shoot down. 
Some  Army Air Corps intelligence officers suspected the object was a long-
range   Japanese   aircraft   equipped  with  a  powerful  searchlight,  to 
illuminate  the  B-29s  so  they could be attacked by fighter aircraft, but 
such  attacks  never  materialized.  Finally  the mysterious glowing object 
that  seemed  to  pace  the  B-29s  was identified. It was Venus, which was 
particularly bright at the time.

     More  than  25%  of  all UFOs reported during a 15-month period to the 
Center  for  UFO  Studies  (created  in  1973  by  Hynek)  turned  out upon 
investigation  to  be  a  bright planet or star. Some eyewitnesses reported 
that  the  celestial  UFO  "darted  up and down", or "wiggled from side-to-
side", and a variety of shapes were described.

     In  Capt.  Terauchi's recollected account to the media six weeks after 
the  incident,  he  described  seeing two small UFOs in addition to a large 
one.  But  the  transcript  reveals  that  the  pilot only briefly reported 
seeing  TWO  lights,  NOT  THREE, and thereafter he referred only to one in 
his radio communications with FAA controllers.

     News   media   accounts   of   the  UFO  incident  stressed  that  one 
unidentified  object  had  been detected by a USAF radar in the vicinity of 
the  747's  "blip",  which  seemed  to confirm the pilot's visual sighting. 
However,  radars  operating  in  mountainous terrain such as that where the 
UFO  incident  occurred  can  receive  spurious  echoes  when  radar energy 
bouncing  off  an  aircraft  is  reflected a second time from mountains and 
snow-covered terrain.

     When  the pilot first reported seeing the UFO, FAA traffic controllers 
--  ever  concerned  over the risk of a mid-air collision -- requested that 
radar  controllers  in  an  Air  Force  Regional  Operations Command Center 
examine  their  displays  to  see if they could spot an unknown intruder. A 
radar  operator there spotted something, but was unsure whether it might be 
a  spurious  echo.  However,  the echo appeared only briefly and was BEHIND 
the  747 whereas the pilot had reported that the UFO was in front or to the 
left of his aircraft.

     Later,  as  the  JAL  747  came  within  range  of an FAA radar at the 
Fairbanks  International  Airport, a radar controller there was asked if he 
could  spot  another  object  in the vicinity of the airliner. Although the 
JAL  pilot  still  was  reporting  a UFO, the controller replied that there 
were no unknown blips in the vicinity of JAL 1628.

     On  Jan.  11,  Capt. Terauchi again reported seeing a UFO while flying 
in  approximately  the  same  part of Alaska. But after an FAA spokesman in 
Anchorage  suggested  that  this  UFO  might  only be lights from a distant 
village  bouncing  off  clouds,  the JAL pilot acknowledged that this could 
explain his second UFO sighting.

     The  transcript  of  radio  communications during the Nov. 18 incident 
indicates  that  there  were  broken  clouds  at  or  below  Flight  1628's 
altitude,  which  may help explain Capt. Terauchi's mistaking Jupiter for a 
UFO. 

     Even  a  scientifically  trained  former Navy officer, who would later 
become  President, once mistook a bright planet for a UFO. The "victim" was 
Jimmy  Carter  and  the  incident  occurred  about 7:15 PM on Jan. 6, 1969, 
following  his  talk  to  the  Lions  Club  of  Leary,  GA. As Carter later 
recalled  the  incident,  he spotted the UFO in the west at an elevation he 
estimated  to  be  about  30  deg.  An  investigation  conducted  by Robert 
Sheaffer,  vice-chairman  of  CSICOP's UFO Subcommittee, was complicated by 
the  fact that Carter had recalled an erroneous date for the incident. Once 
Sheaffer  managed  to determine the correct date, he found that a brilliant 
planet  Venus  was  to  the west and about 35 deg. above the horizon, where 
Carter reported seeing the UFO.

     Klass  credits  astronomers  Nick  Sanduleak  and C. B. Stephenson, of 
Case   Western   Reserve  University,  in  Cleveland,  for  their  valuable 
assistance  in  computing  the  positions  and bearings of bright celestial 
bodies relative to the 747 airliner at the time of the incident. 

     "My  suspicions  that  this  UFO might be a bright celestial body were 
prompted  by  the  fact  that the pilot reported seeing the object for more 
than  30  minutes,"  Klass said. "Past experience has shown that when a UFO 
remains  visible  for  many  minutes,  it  almost  always  proves  to  be a 
celestial  object."  Another  clue  was  the  fact  that  when  Flight 1628 
descended  4,000  ft.,  the  UFO  still  appeared  to  be at the airliner's 
altitude.  At  Jupiter's  great distance, a change of 4,000 ft. in aircraft 
altitude  would  produce  no  noticeable  change  in  the planet's apparent 
altitude.

     Klass,  who  was a senior editor with Aviation Week & Space Technology 
magazine  for  nearly 35 years until his partial retirement this past June, 
has  been  investigating  famous  UFO  cases  as a a hobby for more than 20 
years.  His most recent book on the subject is "UFOs: The Public Deceived," 
published by Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY