Claim

The 2004 Nimitz “Tic Tac” flew in ways no known aircraft can

Also known as Tic Tac claim, Nimitz claim

Open. The Pentagon lists the encounter as unresolved and AARO has published no resolution; the pilots and radar operators describe performance beyond any known technology, while AARO's former director has reportedly suggested it was a U.S. test. (Congressional hearings on military reports of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) - May 17th, 2022)

In November 2004 Navy pilots from USS Nimitz and radar operators on USS Princeton tracked and saw a white, wingless object off southern California. The claim is that what they saw moved in ways no aircraft, missile or drone of the time could: sudden drops of tens of thousands of feet, no visible propulsion, and acceleration beyond any known airframe.

The timeline shows who has said so and how they know, and the alternatives: an unknown U.S. or adversary program.

Evidence for

Who has said it, in order

  1. 16 December 2017 — says so, relayed: A companion article, “2 Navy Airmen and an Object That ‘Accelerated Like Nothing I've Ever Seen’”, told the November 2004 Nimitz “Tic Tac” encounter through Cmdr. David Fravor's account. Source: nytimes.com (archived)
  2. 21 September 2019 Gary Voorhis — says so, first-hand: In a 2019 interview for The Nimitz Encounters he said recalibrating the radar “only … make[s] the tracks clear”, that the objects moved faster than the radar's pulses, and that through binoculars they were only “little specks”. Source: Tic Tac witness Gary Voorhis: interview for The Nimitz Encounters (2019) at 2:22
  3. 12 October 2019 Kevin Day — says so, first-hand: Day: as Fravor's flight reached merge plot, the object dropped from 28,000 feet to 50 feet above the water in 0.78 seconds, which he says he measured the next day. Source: Tic Tac witness Kevin Day: interview for The Nimitz Encounters (2019) at 10:37
  4. December 2019 David Fravor — context, first-hand: David Fravor has disputed parts of the enlisted witnesses' accounts: he says only the four aircrew saw the Tic Tac, no one was asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, “men in suits” never came to the ships, and claims of a 10-minute video are untrue; he thinks the squadron's tapes were probably recorded over by accident. Source: popularmechanics.com (archived)
  5. 17 August 2020 Chad Underwood — says so, first-hand: Underwood: no tail, no wings, and above all no exhaust plume — “the biggest giveaway … because that's just nothing but heat”; it was “just this elongated thing”. Source: The Man Who Filmed the Tic Tac UFO: Chad Underwood interviewed by Jeremy Corbell (2020) at 6:59
  6. 17 August 2020 Chad Underwood — says so, first-hand: Underwood: once he locked it on radar the readings went erratic — the Mach number “jumping all over the place … 0.8, 0.4, 0.2” — and he saw strobe lines indicating the radar was being jammed, which he says would count as an act of war. Source: The Man Who Filmed the Tic Tac UFO: Chad Underwood interviewed by Jeremy Corbell (2020) at 8:29
  7. 17 August 2020 Chad Underwood — says so, first-hand: Answering the theory that his own banking made the object appear to dart left: “Our aircraft was straight and low the entire time”, with no change in heading, altitude or airspeed that would make the pod drop track. Source: The Man Who Filmed the Tic Tac UFO: Chad Underwood interviewed by Jeremy Corbell (2020) at 10:31
  8. 17 August 2020 Chad Underwood — says so, first-hand: Underwood: the 2x zoom did not drop the track; “It broke my lock by zooming off to the left” with an acceleration the pod is not built to follow — though elsewhere he has said he did not see it accelerate with his own eyes. Source: The Man Who Filmed the Tic Tac UFO: Chad Underwood interviewed by Jeremy Corbell (2020) at 12:10
  9. 17 August 2020 Chad Underwood — says so, first-hand: Underwood: it was no black project — he has been debriefed and signed NDAs before after seeing classified programs, and that never happened here; asked what it was: “I have no … idea.” Source: The Man Who Filmed the Tic Tac UFO: Chad Underwood interviewed by Jeremy Corbell (2020) at 16:37
  10. 8 September 2020 David Fravor — says so, first-hand: Fravor: above it a small white Tic Tac moved abruptly north–south and east–west with no inertia and no rotor wash, ruling out a helicopter. Source: David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering | Lex Fridman Podcast #122 at 1:21:45
  11. 16 May 2021 David Fravor — says so, first-hand: Fravor: as he spirals down, the Tic Tac turns abruptly and starts mirroring him; when it is right in front of him, “it just disappears”. Source: 60 Minutes: Navy pilots recall “unsettling” 2004 UAP sighting (Fravor and Dietrich, 16 May 2021) at 2:49
  12. 16 May 2021 Chris Mellon — says so, relayed: Chris Mellon: the Nimitz objects seemed to have unlimited loiter time and dropped from 60,000–80,000 feet to near the sea “in seconds”, with acceleration far beyond anything the U.S. can build. Source: 60 Minutes: Navy pilots recall “unsettling” 2004 UAP sighting (Fravor and Dietrich, 16 May 2021) at 5:45
  13. 15 June 2021 Alex Dietrich — context, first-hand: Dietrich: back on the ship her first suspicion was that they had been vectored into a live range and the Tic Tac was a surface- or subsurface-to-air missile; she says Pentagon officials from ONI, AATIP and the UAP Task Force have since assured her that possibility was eliminated. Source: Alex Dietrich with Mick West: the Nimitz event summary, time differences and other accounts (June 2021) at 39:29
  14. 17 May 2022 Scott Bray — context, documented: Asked for an example that cannot be explained, Bray cites the 2004 Nimitz incident: “We have data on that, and that simply remains unresolved.” Source: Congressional hearings on military reports of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) - May 17th, 2022 at 1:16:04
  15. 26 July 2023 David Fravor — says so, first-hand: His written statement concludes that the Tic Tac “was far superior to anything that we had at the time, have today, or are looking to develop in the next 10+ years”, and calls for congressional oversight of any program said to hold such technology. Source: David Fravor — written statement, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023)
  16. 26 July 2023 David Fravor — says so, first-hand: Fravor describes looking down from his F/A-18 at the small white “Tic Tac” object in 2004. Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 34:29
  17. 26 July 2023 David Fravor — says so, first-hand: Fravor: “probably the most credible UFO sighting in history,” with “four sets of human eyeballs” plus the sensors: “It is not a joke.” Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 1:54:59
  18. 13 November 2024 All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (as reported by Tim Gallaudet) — context, relayed: Gallaudet: a meeting with AARO turned into “an hours-long influence operation” to defend its historical record report and suggest the Tic Tac was American technology, which Fravor and Dietrich reject. Source: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth at 1:18:39
  19. 18 March 2025 Alex Dietrich — says so, first-hand: Dietrich: the “Tic Tac” was about the size of their own fuselage, 30 to 40 feet, smooth, matte white, with no windows, no flight control surfaces and no visible propulsion. Source: UFOs and the Military: A Combat Pilot's Experience with the Unknown — Alex Dietrich (American Veterans Center, 2025) at 10:56
  20. 25 June 2026 Kirk McConnell — says so, relayed: McConnell: the Tic Tac case convinced him, after he sat down with David Fravor and Alex Dietrich: multiple witnesses, radar from the E-2C, the Aegis cruiser and an F/A-18, and infrared. Source: UAP & National Security: Mellon, Gallaudet, von Rennenkampff & McConnell at Disclosure Forum 2026 at 1:21:26
  21. 25 June 2026 Sean Kirkpatrick (as reported by Tim Gallaudet) — disputes it, relayed: Gallaudet: Sean Kirkpatrick recently said in person in Arlington that the Tic Tac was a DARPA experiment, a narrative Gallaudet rejects. Source: UAP & National Security: Mellon, Gallaudet, von Rennenkampff & McConnell at Disclosure Forum 2026 at 1:23:32
  22. 25 June 2026 Marik von Rennenkampff — context, opinion: Von Rennenkampff keeps a 5–10% possibility that the Tic Tac was U.S. technology, because Fravor and Dietrich recall pitot-tube-like protrusions in the higher-quality video. Source: UAP & National Security: Mellon, Gallaudet, von Rennenkampff & McConnell at Disclosure Forum 2026 at 1:26:30
  23. 21 July 2026 Chris Mellon — says so, opinion: The Nimitz case is the strongest, for its number of witnesses, sensor data and quality of testimony; he used it from the start. Source: Christopher Mellon on the strongest evidence we are not alone (Unveiled clip, 2026) at 1:35

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