John Callahan
| John Callahan |
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John Callahan (born c. 1940s) was a senior Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official who served as Division Chief of the Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations Division under the Associate Administrator for Air Traffic in Washington, D.C.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive0:20. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. I became the branch chief for the quality control, the quality control branch. Later on became a division and I became a division chief and they called it the Accidents Investigations Branch in Washington, D.C. I stayed there for about six years and then retired. ＋ He is a key witness in the 1986 Japan Airlines Flight 1628 incident, during which a Japan Airlines cargo 747 was tracked by both FAA and USAF radar alongside an unidentified object for approximately 31 minutes over Alaska.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive1:13. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. Well, last week we had a UFO chase of 747 across the skies up here for about 30 min or so ＋ Callahan came forward publicly through the Disclosure Project in 2001 and provided original FAA evidence—including radar data, cockpit voice tapes, and computer printouts—that he had retained after the CIA confiscated the official copies.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive10:43. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. They took only what we had there. They didn't ask me if there was anything else that I had... I had the original video that I took. And I had the pilot's report that came through the first report. And I had the FAA's first report that was all downstairs on my table. They didn't ask for that. So I didn't give it to them. ＋
FAA career
Callahan began his FAA career as a branch chief of the Quality Control Branch under the Quality Assurance Staff of the Associate Administrator for Air Traffic.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive0:20. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. I became the branch chief for the quality control, the quality control branch. ＋ The branch was later elevated to a division, and Callahan became Division Chief of Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations—a position only three or four levels below the FAA Administrator.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive21:21. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. I was a division chief. There was only three or four down from the admiral. ＋ He served in the division chief role for approximately six years before retiring. His credentials were independently verified in 2015 by researcher Paul Dean through FAA government directories and direct correspondence with Callahan.Paul Dean (2015-10-03). "John Callahan & The JAL-1628 UFO Encounter; FAA Credentials Finally Confirmed -pt1-". theufochronicles.com. The UFO Chronicles. Archived from the original on 2026-03-10. Retrieved 2026-03-10. 📄
Involvement in the Japan Airlines Flight 1628 incident
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1986 Japan Airlines Flight 1628 incident
On the day Callahan first learned of the incident, FAA officials in Alaska contacted him because media had filled their offices demanding information about a UFO that had pursued a Japan Airlines 747 cargo flight across Alaskan airspace.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive0:42. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. She said, you got to talk to the people in Alaska... he says, we got a problem here. I don't know what to tell the media. The whole office is full of the media from Alaska. ＋ Callahan instructed them to tell the press the event was under investigation and ordered all data—FAA discs, tapes, and military radar tapes—shipped overnight to the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive1:31. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. I wanted all the disc that they had and all the tapes that they had available and flown overnight to the Tech Center, Atlantic City. ＋
Callahan and his superior, Associate Director Harvey Safeer, traveled to Atlantic City and had the radar room reconstructed to replicate the Anchorage facility, synchronizing the digital radar returns with cockpit voice recordings.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive2:33. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. We went up there... we wanted this room set up to be just like it was in Anchorage. And we wanted all that data to come to this scope. And we wanted to see everything the controller was seeing. We wanted to hear everything he heard. And we wanted it all tied together, the radar, the digital radar, and the sound. ＋ He noted that the military's radar tapes had already been placed back in service within twelve days of the incident—an unusually short turnaround that Callahan found suspicious.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive2:09. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. The military said they were short on the tapes and they had to put them back in service and it's only been twelve days ＋
Administrator briefing
Upon returning to Washington, Callahan and Safeer briefed FAA Administrator Vice Admiral Donald D. Engen, who initially allotted five minutes for the briefing.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive7:02. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. His thing was, can you come up and give us a quick five minute rundown? ＋ After Engen began watching the synchronized radar-and-voice video, he cancelled all subsequent meetings and viewed the entire half-hour recording.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive7:27. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. He started watching it and after about 5 min he told the staff... first he said I'll be late and then next it was cancel and then I'm going to be here till it's over. So he watched the whole thing just over half an hour. ＋ Engen then instructed Callahan and Safeer not to discuss the incident with anyone and to prepare a full presentation for officials the following day.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive8:02. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. So his take was don't talk to anybody. And don't talk to anybody until I give you the okay. ＋
CIA confiscation
The following day, representatives from the CIA, the FBI, and President Reagan's Scientific Study Team attended a briefing in the FAA Round Room—three officials from each agency, plus additional unidentified personnel.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive8:48. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. They brought in three people from the FBI, three people from the CIA, and three people from Reagan's scientific study team. And I don't know who the rest of the people were. ＋ The attendees examined the video, radar data, and asked detailed technical questions about radar frequencies, antenna rotation rates, and data processing methods.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive9:08. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. They had all kinds of questions about the frequencies, the rate of the antenna turning on and on and on, how many radars, how many antennas, how does the data get processed? They were all excited the only way a man would be if that was his job. ＋
At the conclusion of the briefing, a CIA representative told the room that the event had never occurred and that no meeting had taken place, and ordered all data confiscated.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive9:36. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. They actually swore all these other guys into this never took place. We never had this meeting and this was never recorded... this was one of the guys from the CIA. ＋ When Callahan pressed for the rationale, the CIA official stated that this was the first time they had obtained 30 minutes of radar data on a UFO and that public disclosure would "cause panic across the country."Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive9:55. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. He said this is the first time they ever had 30 min of radar data on a UFO... and if they come out and told the American public that they ran into a UFO out there, it would cause panic across the country. ＋
Retained evidence
The CIA team took only the materials present in the briefing room and did not ask whether additional copies existed. Callahan had retained the original video recording, the pilot's initial report, and the FAA's first report in his office downstairs.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive10:43. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. They took only what we had there. They didn't ask me if there was anything else that I had... I had the original video that I took. And I had the pilot's report... and I had the FAA's first report that was all downstairs on my table. They didn't ask for that. So I didn't give it to them. ＋ He took this material with him when he retired and has since made it available to researchers, including original radar target printouts, voice communication tapes, and the Plan View Display video.Paul Dean (2015-10-03). "John Callahan & The JAL-1628 UFO Encounter; FAA Credentials Finally Confirmed -pt1-". theufochronicles.com. The UFO Chronicles. Archived from the original on 2026-03-10. Retrieved 2026-03-10. 📄
Observations on the cover-up
Callahan noted that the FAA pressured its own controllers to change their official reports from describing a radar "target" to "position symbols," which he regarded as an attempt to downplay the evidence.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive12:15. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. They made him change his report to position symbols, which makes it sound like it wasn't really a target... somebody's worried about something rather than trying to cover up. ＋ He also observed that while all other attendees were sworn to secrecy, the CIA never required the same oath from him personally, an oversight he attributed to the fact that he had been standing behind the group during the closing remarks.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive16:23. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. They had all those people swear that this never happened. They never had me swear it never happened, but it always bothered me that we have these things going on. ＋
Callahan stated that the object's speed was beyond any known government technology, moving from one o'clock and seven miles from the 747 to six o'clock and seven miles in under five seconds between radar sweeps.Sr. FAA Official John Callahan / Disclosure Project Witness Testimony Archive15:40. youtube.com. Sirius Disclosure. 2012-08-30. Retrieved 2026-03-31. It would go from one o'clock seven or 8 mi to six o'clock seven or 8 mi inside of four or 5 s. You have to be moving pretty quickly and it's faster than anything that I know of in our government. ＋