David Fravor
David Fravor is a U.S. Navy pilot who, in 2004, as a member of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier group, took part in the famous "Tic Tac" UFO incident. Since then, he has been one of the most frequently heard witnesses and public figures on the subject.
David Fravor is a retired U.S. Navy pilot who served in the early 2000s as commander of a fighter squadron belonging to the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier group. Fravor became known because in 2004, during a military exercise off the coast of California, he encountered an unidentified flying object in his F/A-18 fighter jet, which the press and the participants later named the "Tic Tac" based on its oval, white, unmarked shape.
According to Fravor, the ship's radars tracked an object for hours that moved above the surface of the water at unusual altitude and speed, and then, when he approached it, disappeared from his view with sudden maneuvers and extraordinary acceleration. The incident was confirmed by other pilots as well, and the encounter was also recorded by the aircraft's sensor systems.
Going public
The Nimitz incident and the video footage documenting it became widely known in 2017, after the Pentagon and American newspapers made them public. Since then, Fravor has regularly spoken about the incident in interviews, congressional hearings and documentaries, and has become one of the most frequently cited witnesses of the UAP phenomenon.
Official and skeptical positions
The Pentagon officially confirmed that the encounter took place and that the footage is authentic, but gave no explanation for the origin of the object. According to skeptical researchers, evaluating the case is made more difficult by the fact that, because of the time gap between the radar data and the witnesses' recollections, as well as technical limitations, several possible explanations may arise; however, so far neither side has proven these conclusively.