USS Nimitz Tic Tac Encounter

The Encounter

On November 14, 2004, the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group and USS Princeton were conducting pre-deployment workups off the Southern California coast when radar operators began tracking multiple unidentified objects performing erratic maneuvers. Over a two-week period, the ships and aircraft detected dozens of brief contacts.

Visual Encounter

Commander David Fravor and Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich, pilots of F/A-18F Super Hornets, were vectored to intercept an object hovering above a churning patch of ocean. Fravor observed a smooth, white, oblong object approximately 40 feet in length—resembling a Tic Tac candy—with no visible wings, rotors, or exhaust plumes. When Fravor attempted to cut off the object's path, it mirrored his movements and then accelerated to such extreme speed that it disappeared from visual range in seconds. Moments later, USS Princeton radar operators reacquired the object approximately 60 miles away at the combat air patrol point—a distance that would be impossible for any known aircraft to cover in that timeframe.

Radar and Flight Characteristics

Radar data confirmed multiple objects descending abruptly from altitudes around 80,000 feet to just above sea level. The objects displayed erratic movement patterns and lacked any conventional propulsion signatures. Fravor noted the object was "not behaving by the normal laws of physics" and appeared aware of the aircraft's presence. The encounter lasted only seconds in visual range but left a lasting impression on all witnesses.

Video Evidence

Lieutenant Commander Chad Underwood recorded infrared footage of one object using an ATFLIR targeting pod, creating what would become known as the "FLIR1" video. The 76-second clip shows a small white oblong object accelerating at the end. This footage remained official Navy imagery and was formally confirmed as authentic by the Pentagon in April 2020, though it had circulated in media by 2017.

Official Response and Disclosure

After the encounter, pilots were debriefed but reported no official investigation occurred. The incident remained largely unknown outside defense circles for over a decade. The 2017 public release of the FLIR video and testimony from Fravor and Dietrich at the 2015 CAUS panel and subsequent 2017 New York Times coverage transformed the Nimitz encounter into one of the most consequential modern UAP incidents, contributing significantly to the disclosure movement.