A training flight changes course
On November 14, 2004, David Fravor was leading two F/A-18F Super Hornets from the USS Nimitz during training off Southern California. Each aircraft carried a pilot and a weapons systems officer. The USS Princeton interrupted their exercise and directed them toward an unidentified radar contact. According to Fravor, the ship’s controllers told them they had been observing unusual contacts for roughly two weeks. His jets had nothing on their own radars as they approached. At about 20,000 feet, the crews received a call indicating that their aircraft and the contact were close enough to occupy the same radar resolution cell. They began searching outside their cockpits.
White water in a calm sea
Fravor describes clear skies and calm water. A patch of churning white water caught their attention. He compared its outline and size to a submerged airliner, while emphasizing that they saw no underwater object. Above it, a white capsule moved abruptly back and forth. He describes a smooth surface, without visible wings, windows, or propulsion. He later compared it to a large white propane tank, estimating its length at roughly 40 feet. He initially considered a helicopter, but saw none of the disturbance its rotors would produce on the water.
Closing the distance
Fravor began a descending turn to investigate while Alex Dietrich kept the second aircraft overhead, watching both his jet and the object. Dietrich later recalled feeling vulnerable because they were unarmed. As Fravor came around, the object changed orientation and started climbing. He interpreted its movement as a response to his approach. With the two circling at different heights, Fravor turned across the circle to intercept it. He estimated that he came within about half a mile before the encounter ended.
Gone in a moment
Fravor says the object accelerated out of sight in less than half a second. The crew above lost it too. When he looked back down, the disturbed water had disappeared. He recalls watching the object for roughly five minutes. Soon afterward, the Princeton’s controller reported a contact at the jets’ planned patrol point, about 60 miles away. Fravor says the ship had not continuously tracked it across that distance; the contact reappeared at the patrol point. That was information relayed by radio: he never saw the object there. He describes feeling unsettled by movement unlike anything he had encountered in his flying career.
Back aboard the Nimitz
Back aboard the carrier, Fravor described the encounter to a crew preparing for another flight. That later flight produced the familiar infrared recording. Although the crews discussed what they had seen, Fravor says they were not questioned as part of an immediate investigation. He says Jay Stratton first contacted him to investigate the sighting in 2009, roughly five years later.
From encounter to public record
The New York Times brought the encounter to a wider audience in December 2017. In April 2020, the Department of Defense officially released the infrared recording alongside two other Navy videos. The release confirmed the recordings’ provenance and described the phenomena in them as unidentified. Fravor later recounted the encounter to the House Oversight Committee in July 2023.
The question that remains
The official release confirmed that the recording was genuine Navy footage. It did not establish the object’s origin or verify the speeds and maneuvers described by witnesses. Those questions remain open in the public record. And then there is the question of purpose: what was the Tic Tac doing there? Why was it moving above the disturbed water? Was it observing the carrier group, responding to the jets, interacting with something below the surface, or doing something else entirely? What brought it there, and where did it go?
On the record
A Navy infrared video, an official 2020 release statement, and Fravor’s written statement to the House Oversight Committee are publicly available. His statement is a primary source for what he recalls observing.
Limits of the record
The public video was recorded on a later flight and does not show Fravor’s visual encounter. A witness statement is evidence of a reported observation, not an independent measurement of an object’s speed, distance, or origin. The sources below do not establish extraterrestrial technology.
- 14 NOV 2004
Fravor reports an encounter during a Nimitz carrier group training mission.
- 16 DEC 2017
The New York Times publishes its account of the Nimitz encounter alongside reporting on the Pentagon’s UFO research program, bringing Fravor’s story to a wider audience.
- 27 APR 2020
The Department of Defense officially releases three historical Navy videos.
- 26 JUL 2023
David Fravor testifies before the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs about the Nimitz encounter.
Sources & interviews
2 Navy Airmen and an Object That ‘Accelerated Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen’The New York Times · December 16, 2017Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. ProgramThe New York Times · December 16, 2017David Fravor’s interview on Good Morning AmericaABC News · Video and article · December 18, 2017David Fravor and Jeremy Corbell on The Joe Rogan ExperienceJoe Rogan Experience #1361 · YouTube · October 5, 2019Release of historical Navy videosU.S. Department of Defense · April 2020David Fravor’s interview with Lex FridmanLex Fridman Podcast #122 · YouTube · September 8, 2020David Fravor and Alex Dietrich recall the Nimitz encounter60 Minutes · YouTube · May 16, 2021David Fravor’s interview with Ryan GravesMerged Podcast · YouTube · July 5, 2023David Fravor’s written statementHouse Oversight Committee · July 2023David Fravor’s interview with Ward CarrollWard Carroll · YouTube · June 12, 2026Spotted an error, or know a better source? Write to hello@uap.fun.
Discuss this case
Compare notes with other readers: witness details, sources, and the parts that still do not add up.
Open the discussion