Person
David Fravor
Also known as Fravor, Dave Fravor, Commander Fravor
- Commander, U.S. Navy (ret.); CO of VFA-41 “Black Aces”, F/A-18F pilot
David Fravor is a retired U.S. Navy commander and F/A-18F pilot whose account of the 2004 "Tic Tac" encounter is the best-known pilot testimony of the modern UAP era. A former enlisted Marine and Naval Academy graduate, he flew for the Navy for 18 years, served as an accident investigator, and has since worked in the private sector, much of it in defense. In November 2004 he commanded Strike Fighter Squadron 41, the "Black Aces", aboard USS Nimitz.
On November 14, 2004, the cruiser USS Princeton diverted his training flight to radar contacts it had tracked for two weeks off Baja California. He and the three other aircrew saw a white, wingless object about 40 feet long that mirrored his jet, then accelerated out of sight and reappeared on radar 60 miles away. A second crew, led by Chad Underwood, filmed the object on the targeting pod; that FLIR video was released in 2017 and acknowledged by the Pentagon in 2020. Fravor says the incident was never investigated at the time. In 2009 Jay Stratton contacted him for an unofficial Pentagon report, and in 2016 Lue Elizondo got in touch.
He went public in The New York Times story of December 2017 and has since given his account on the Lex Fridman podcast (2020), in The Age of Disclosure (2025) and under oath to Congress on July 26, 2023, alongside Ryan Graves and David Grusch. He has answered sceptics such as Mick West point by point and doubts it was secret human technology. He also discounts the stories of seized tapes. AARO has suggested the Tic Tac may have been American technology, a view Fravor and his wingman Alex Dietrich reject. He presses for congressional oversight of any program that may hold such craft.
Sources: written statement and testimony, July 26, 2023 hearing · Lex Fridman Podcast #122 · November 13, 2024 hearing · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- claimed Asked under oath about his background, he said he was an enlisted Marine, a Naval Academy graduate, flew for the Navy for 18 years, holds a master's degree from the University of Houston, and has worked in the private sector for about 16–17 years, doing a lot of defense work. — David Fravor Source: Hearing transcript: UAP — Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency (House Oversight, July 26, 2023)
- claimed In November 2004 he was commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 41, the Black Aces, aboard USS Nimitz, working up for a combat deployment to the Persian Gulf, when the USS Princeton suspended his training flight for “real world tasking”. — David Fravor Source: David Fravor — written statement, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023)
- claimed In his written statement he says the Princeton's controller had been observing the objects on the Aegis system for two weeks: they “had been descending from above 80,000ft and coming rapidly down to 20,000ft would stay for hours and then go straight back up.” — David Fravor Source: David Fravor — written statement, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023)
- claimed He testified that all four aircrew saw a small white Tic Tac-shaped object, about 40 feet long, with no rotors, rotor wash or wings, moving abruptly over a patch of white water; it mirrored his descending turn, then “rapidly accelerated and disappeared right in front of our aircraft”, and reappeared on the Princeton's radar at their CAP point roughly 60 miles away in under a minute. — David Fravor Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 34:29
- claimed He says the following crew, led by Chad Underwood, recorded the roughly 90-second FLIR video released in 2017. The radar tape showing jamming of the APG-73 radar was never released, and the video shows no infrared plume from any normal propulsion system. — David Fravor Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 54:34
- documented He testified that “the incident was never investigated”, that none of his crew were ever questioned, and that no one contacted him until Jay Stratton did in 2009, as part of the Pentagon program he says was led by Lue Elizondo. — David Fravor Source: Hearing transcript: UAP — Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency (House Oversight, July 26, 2023)
- claimed In his written statement he credits To The Stars Academy, formed by Elizondo with Tom DeLonge, Chris Mellon and others, with working with the New York Times reporters on the December 2017 articles, which he says “removed the Stigma of the UFO topic”. — David Fravor Source: David Fravor — written statement, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023)
- claimed Asked at the hearing whether there was anything more the committee should know, he said: “it has been said it is probably the most credible UFO sighting in history, based on all the sensors that were tracking it and then for us to get visual … there is four sets of human eyeballs … It is not a joke.” — David Fravor Source: House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video at 1:54:59
- claimed 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. — David Fravor Source: David Fravor — written statement, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023)
- claimed Answering sceptic Mick West's challenge to his size estimate, he says that after 16 years looking down on Hornets from altitude he judged it about Hornet-sized, roughly 40 feet, and all four aircrew agreed; he rejects West's view that the FLIR object only appears to dart away because the tracker loses lock. — David Fravor Source: David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering | Lex Fridman Podcast #122 at 2:31:33
- claimed Tim Gallaudet testified in November 2024 that AARO officials tried to persuade him the Tic Tac was possibly American technology, adding that the two witnesses, David Fravor and Alex Dietrich, “were convinced it was otherwise”. — Tim Gallaudet Source: Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth at 1:18:39
Connected files
Claims
- AATIP was an official Pentagon UAP program, and Luis Elizondo ran it (asserts)
- The objects Navy F/A-18 crews tracked off the U.S. East Coast in 2014–15 were not conventional aircraft, drones or balloons (asserts)
- The 2004 Nimitz “Tic Tac” flew in ways no known aircraft can (asserts)
Documents
- David Fravor — written statement, House Oversight hearing (July 26, 2023) (authored)
- Hearing transcript: UAP — Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency (House Oversight, July 26, 2023) (statement about)
Events
- The New York Times reveals the Pentagon UFO program (appears in) — A companion article told the Nimitz encounter through Fravor's account
Documentaries
- The Age of Disclosure (appears in)
People
- Alex Dietrich (flew with) — She flew the second Super Hornet in Fravor's flight during the 2004 Tic Tac encounter
- Chad Underwood (fellow witness) — About an hour after Fravor's encounter he flew the next sortie and recorded the FLIR1 video
- Jay Stratton (contacted by) — Stratton contacted him in 2009 for an unofficial Pentagon report on the Tic Tac
- Luis Elizondo (contacted by) — Elizondo got in touch in 2016
- Tim Gallaudet (statements by)
- Gary Voorhis (disputes) — Fravor has publicly rejected parts of Voorhis's account
- Kevin Day (sent to intercept by) — Day's decision put Fravor's flight onto the object
- Kirk McConnell (briefed) — Walking through the Tic Tac case with Fravor and Dietrich convinced him the issue was real
- Leslie Kean (statement about)
- P.J. Hughes (disputes) — Fravor rejects the idea that anyone came to the ships or that witnesses signed NDAs
Hearings & briefings
Incidents
- USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” encounter (witness)
Organizations
- To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (credits) — He credits TTSA with working with the Times on the 2017 articles, which he says “removed the Stigma of the UFO topic”
Videos
- Tic Tac witness Kevin Day: interview for The Nimitz Encounters (2019) (discussed in) — Day's account of the object around Fravor differs from Fravor's own
- The Man Who Filmed the Tic Tac UFO: Chad Underwood interviewed by Jeremy Corbell (2020) (discussed in) — Underwood explains how Fravor sent him out with tapes running
- 60 Minutes: Navy pilots recall “unsettling” 2004 UAP sighting (Fravor and Dietrich, 16 May 2021) (appears in)
- Alex Dietrich with Mick West: the Nimitz event summary, time differences and other accounts (June 2021) (discussed in) — She explains why her account lasts about 10 seconds against Fravor's several minutes
- House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video (speaks in)
- Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth (discussed in)
- UFOs and the Military: A Combat Pilot's Experience with the Unknown — Alex Dietrich (American Veterans Center, 2025) (related to)
- Christopher Mellon on the strongest evidence we are not alone (Unveiled clip, 2026) (discussed in)
- UAP & National Security: Mellon, Gallaudet, von Rennenkampff & McConnell at Disclosure Forum 2026 (discussed in)
- David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering | Lex Fridman Podcast #122 (appears in)
Mentioned in videos
- Tic Tac witness Kevin Day: interview for The Nimitz Encounters (2019)
- 60 Minutes: Navy pilots recall “unsettling” 2004 UAP sighting (Fravor and Dietrich, 16 May 2021)
- Alex Dietrich with Mick West: the Nimitz event summary, time differences and other accounts (June 2021)
- UAP Navy Encounters: Patrick “PJ” Hughes on the Hawkeye data taken from the Nimitz (Tim Ventura, 2023)
- House holds hearing on UFOs, government transparency | full video
- Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth
- UAP & National Security: Mellon, Gallaudet, von Rennenkampff & McConnell at Disclosure Forum 2026
- US fighter pilots witness UFO: Ryan Graves (American Alchemy, 2024)
- Aliens Sent a Message to Humans… “WE ARE YOU” | Joe Rogan
- David Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering | Lex Fridman Podcast #122
Mentioned in documents and records
- House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
- Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs