Transcription concerning the incident involving Japan Airlines Flight 1628 on November 18, 1986

This document is a formal memorandum and transcript from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, dated January 9, 1987. It provides a verbatim record of air traffic control communications involving Japan Airlines Flight 1628 (JL1628) on November 18, 1986. The transcript covers the period from 0214 UTC to 0259 UTC. During the flight, the crew of JL1628 reported visual contact with unidentified traffic in their vicinity. The crew described the object as 'quite big' and noted it was maintaining their altitude. Throughout the communication, Anchorage ARTCC controllers and the Regional Operations Command Center (ROCC) attempted to identify the target. While the flight crew maintained visual contact, ground controllers reported receiving intermittent primary radar returns in the vicinity of the aircraft, though no transponder code was associated with the target. The transcript details the coordination between the flight crew, Anchorage Center, Fairbanks Approach, and a United Airlines flight (UA69) that was requested to assist in identifying the traffic. Despite these efforts, the nature of the target remained unidentified. The document concludes with a glossary of terms used during the incident, such as ARTCC, ROCC, and NORAD, providing context for the technical nature of the communications.