In November 2004 a routine US Navy training mission off the coast of Southern California became one of the most high-profile unidentified flying object (UFO) cases in recent history. Nearly two decades later, the incident is still debated as there is no confirmed explanation for what the pilots and radar operators reported.This incident, now widely known as the “Tic Tac” incident, involved multiple Navy personnel, advanced radar systems, and infrared video footage. While US defense officials have investigated hundreds of unidentified aerial sightings over the years, the 2004 encounter remains one of the most famous cases.Although the incident occurred in 2004, it remained largely unknown for years. The case attracted worldwide attention in 2017 when The New York Times reported on previously unknown Pentagon programs to study unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and published details of the incident along with a video.
What happened
On November 14, 2004, retired U.S. Navy Commander David Fravor was leading an F/A-18F squadron from the USS Nimitz during a training exercise about 100 miles southwest of San Diego.Before the flight, radar operators aboard the USS Princeton were tracking unidentified objects. Frewer said during a 2021 interview that radar detected several airborne objects that appeared to descend below about 80,000 feet in an extremely short period of time before disappearing.Fravor and fellow pilot Lieutenant Commander Alex Dietrich were sent to investigate.
‘Tic Tac’ object
When the pilots arrived at the location, Fraver said they noticed an unusual patch of turbulent water. Hovering above him was a small white object that reminded him of a Tic Tac Mint.“I said, ‘Dude, do you, do you see that thing down there?’ And we saw this little white Tic Tac looking thing. And it’s like moving over a whitewater area,” Fravor later recalled.According to Fravor, four crew members in two aircraft observed the object for about five minutes.He said it had no wings, no visible markings and no exhaust fins. It appeared to be approximately the size of their F/A-18 fighter jet.
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it responded
Frewer said he went inside to take a closer look, but the object seemed to respond to his movements. “It knew we were there,” he later told investigators.As he attempted to stop it, the object accelerated rapidly and disappeared from view. According to his account, radar later detected it about 60 miles away in less than a minute.Years later, Frewer said he still could not explain what he had seen. He told ABC News in 2017, “I’ve never seen anything in my life, in my history of flying, that had the performance, the acceleration; this thing had no wings.”“I think it was not from this world,” he said, adding that he could not identify what the object was.
infrared video
Following Fravor’s encounter, another Navy aircraft flown by Commander Chad Underwood was dispatched to the area.His aircraft recorded infrared footage of the object. The grainy video later became one of the most widely shared UFO videos after it was publicly revealed and was eventually acknowledged by the Pentagon.Underwood also said he detected indications of radar jamming during the encounter.
no explanation yet
In July 2023, Fravor appeared before a US House hearing on unidentified paranormal phenomena. He told lawmakers that what he and other pilots saw appeared to be beyond known aviation technology.“I think what we experienced is far beyond the physics and capabilities that we had at the time, that we currently have or that we’re going to have in the next 10 to 20 years,” he testified, as quoted by CBS News.The Pentagon has not yet said whether the Tic Tac object was extraterrestrial. US officials have stated that many of the reported unidentified aerial phenomena have ultimately been explained as normal objects or phenomena. However, some cases remain unresolved due to limited or incomplete data.Although the 2004 Tic Tac encounter remains one of the most closely investigated cases because it involved multiple trained military witnesses, radar tracking, and infrared footage, no definitive explanation has yet been publicly confirmed.