JAL 1628: The Star Bench, Visualised · Signals from the Periphery

JAL 1628 · THE STAR BENCH
17 Nov 1986 · 55 minutes over Alaska
visual and radar, priced separately
the amber lights are testimony, staged and labelled
the sky is computed and audited vs JPL Horizons
'a few primary hits... never a good track'
fly the evening · read the calls · check the sky

Evidence

fact ⇄ what kind of claim · live

Jupiter -2.5 low southeast, Mars 19° right, a 98% moon dead astern

GMST + Standish + Meeus, audited against JPL Horizons in the tune script

EXACT

The reported clock drift 11 → 10 → 9 → 7-8 tracks the aircraft's own turns

relative bearing = azimuth − heading; headings solved from the route's geography

EXACT

The 360 is timed to the tape: 3/4 in 4 min 49 s = about 6.4 min a circle, an 8.5 NM radius and about 23° of bank at 500 kt; the stated 30° would have closed it in 4.8 min

R = v²/(g·tanφ) inverted from the recorded period, no free parameter anywhere on this bench

EXACT

'Twice an aircraft carrier' is a distance assumption wearing a size costume

S = d × θ; the crew's own distances span 500 ft to 8 NM, a factor of ninety

EXACT

The chronology, the quotes, the FAA finding, Callahan, the January retraction

Maccabee's tape reconstruction and Klass's analysis, cross-read, disagreements kept

REPORTED

'A few primary hits... never a good track': the controller's own summary

the FAA's split-return finding and Maccabee's objections carried side by side

REPORTED

The amber lights, the terrain, the aircraft model, the path between fixes

testimony staged at the reported clock positions; no measured position exists

MODELLED

What three professional witnesses and one unexplained first act amount to

the one question this bench refuses to close for you

READING

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