U.S. Navy pilot, Cmdr. David Fravor still remembers the flight in 2004.
It was a routine training mission off the coast of California, when he noticed another aircraft moving unlike anything he had ever seen in the air—and looking unlike anything he’d ever seen on earth.
“A white Tic Tac, about the same size as a Hornet, 40 feet long with no wings,” Fravor told The Washington Post, describing the aircraft. “Just hanging close to the water.”
The smooth flying craft left no wake above the water and began to shadow the actions of Fravor and other pilots, then vanished. A separate crew tracked it and filmed it for 1.5 minutes.
“As I get closer, as my nose is starting to pull back up, it accelerates and it’s gone,” Fravor said. “Faster than I’d ever seen anything in my life. We turn around, say let’s go see what’s in the water and there’s nothing. Just blue water.”
Fravor’s the latest pilot to come forward and tell his story of a UFO encounter after reports emerged that the Department of Defense has been studying reports of UFOs for years. And while the project is officially over, some insiders say data collection is still ongoing.