The Tic Tac UFO: Navy Pilots' Encounter That Changed Everything

In November 2004, the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group was conducting routine training exercises off the coast of Southern California when the cruiser USS Princeton began detecting anomalous radar contacts. Over a period of several days, the Princeton's advanced AN/SPY-1B radar system tracked multiple unknown objects appearing at altitudes above 80,000 feet before rapidly descending to near sea level in a matter of seconds. These objects exhibited flight characteristics that far exceeded any known technology.

Senior Chief Kevin Day, the Princeton's radar operator, noted that the objects seemed to follow a pattern, appearing at a specific location each day. The contacts were so unusual that Day initially suspected a radar malfunction, but the system was checked and found to be operating correctly. On November 14, 2004, two F/A-18F Super Hornets from the Black Aces squadron were diverted from a training mission to investigate one of these contacts, setting the stage for what would become the most consequential military UFO encounter of the modern era.

Commander David Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich, piloting the two Super Hornets, were directed to a merge plot with one of the unknown contacts approximately 60 miles southwest of their position. Upon arrival, Fravor observed a disturbance on the ocean surface resembling churning whitewater around a submerged object. Hovering above this disturbance was a white, oblong object approximately 40 feet long with no visible wings, rotors, exhaust plumes, or flight control surfaces, which Fravor described as resembling a giant Tic Tac breath mint.

Fravor descended to investigate while Dietrich maintained an overhead position. As he approached, the object appeared to react to his presence, mirroring his movements in a manner Fravor described as a "cat and mouse" engagement. When Fravor attempted to cut across the circle to close the distance, the Tic Tac accelerated instantaneously and disappeared from visual range in approximately two seconds. Within moments, the Princeton reported that the object had reappeared on radar at their pre-planned combat air patrol point roughly 60 miles away, a location that should have been known only to the crew.

Shortly after Fravor's encounter, a second pair of F/A-18s was launched, piloted by Lieutenant Chad Underwood. Underwood successfully acquired the object on his aircraft's AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod and recorded approximately 76 seconds of footage. The video, later designated "FLIR1," shows an oblong object with no visible means of propulsion hovering and then accelerating rapidly off screen. The object's thermal signature was unusual, displaying a cool aura that differed from conventional aircraft heat signatures.

The FLIR1 video was leaked to the public in 2007 but received limited attention at the time. It was not until December 2017, when the New York Times published a front-page story about the Pentagon's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), that the video gained widespread recognition. In April 2020, the Department of Defense officially released the FLIR1 video along with two other Navy UFO videos, confirming their authenticity and acknowledging that the objects depicted remained unidentified.

The Tic Tac encounter is widely credited with catalyzing a fundamental shift in U.S. government policy regarding unidentified aerial phenomena. The incident was a key case studied by AATIP, the Pentagon program run by Luis Elizondo from 2007 to 2012. Elizondo's eventual resignation and public advocacy, combined with the release of the Nimitz footage, forced the Department of Defense to acknowledge that military personnel were regularly encountering objects that could not be identified.

In June 2020, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee requested a comprehensive report on UAP from the Director of National Intelligence, which was delivered in June 2021. The Nimitz encounter was central to this report and to the subsequent establishment of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022. Commander Fravor has testified before Congress and appeared in numerous interviews, becoming one of the most prominent and credible voices in the push for government transparency on UFO encounters.