The Nimitz 'Tic Tac'
A Navy pilot dropped down to meet a white, wingless object shaped like a breath mint. It turned sharply and was gone.
What was reported
In November 2004, radar operators on the USS Princeton, part of the USS Nimitz carrier group, reported tracking unusual objects for days. On 14 November, Commander David Fravor and other pilots were sent to look. They described a smooth, white, oblong object about 12 metres long, moving erratically above a disturbance in the water.
Later that day another jet recorded infrared video of an object. The US Department of Defense officially released that video in 2020.
Explanations offered
No official explanation has been given. Sceptics suggest sensor artefacts or misjudged distances, but the pilots' accounts and the radar tracking have kept this case at the centre of recent official UFO inquiries.
- When
- 14 November 2004
- Where
- Pacific Ocean, off Baja California
- Witnesses
- US Navy pilots and radar operators
- Status
- Unexplained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.