Commercial and military pilots have reported thousands of UFO encounters over the decades, but one of the most documented cases involves Japan Airlines Flight 1628 in 1986. As Captain Kenju Terauchi, an experienced former fighter pilot, flew his 747 cargo plane near Anchorage, Alaska, he reported two oval-shaped objects pacing his aircraft at 500 miles per hour before being replaced by what he described as a "gigantic spaceship the size of maybe two aircraft carriers." The episode features ancient astronaut theorists like Giorgio A. Tsoukalos arguing that the sheer volume of pilot testimony—from both civilian and military aviators—demands serious attention, especially given that Anchorage Air Traffic Control and NORAD at Elmendorf Air Force Base confirmed tracking a large unidentified object on radar during Terauchi's encounter.
Mainstream aviation experts and investigators note that pilot UFO reports, while intriguing, often have prosaic explanations ranging from atmospheric phenomena and visual illusions at altitude to misidentified aircraft or celestial objects. The FAA investigated the JAL 1628 incident and found no evidence of anything anomalous, suggesting the radar returns may have been split images or the sighting itself a misperception of light reflections. Still, the episode compellingly documents how even highly trained observers with thousands of flight hours can experience events that defy immediate explanation, raising genuine questions about aerial phenomena reporting and investigation protocols—questions that persist regardless of whether the answer involves extraterrestrial craft or terrestrial misunderstanding.