The Nation - News from Jan. 28, 1987

A Japan Air Lines pilot who claimed to have seen an unidentified flying object alongside his airplane last November was actually seeing an unusually bright image of the planet Jupiter and possibly Mars, an investigator said. Philip J. Klass, an editor with the magazine Aviation Week & Space Technology, said astronomical calculations show that on Nov. 17, when the pilot claimed to have seen the UFO, Jupiter was extremely bright and was visible precisely where the pilot reported that he saw the UFO. Mars was just below and to the right of Jupiter, and may explain the pilot’s initial report that he saw two lights, Klass said.