Catalina Channel / USS Nimitz strike group
31°25′N, 117°15′W
Pacific Ocean, off Baja California — operating area of Carrier Strike Group 11 during November 2004 workups
[from the public record]
31.4167, -117.2500 · view on OpenStreetMap →
What's documented
Between 10 and 16 November 2004, the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, conducting pre-deployment workups off Baja California, tracked unidentified objects on AN/SPY-1 radar. On 14 November 2004, two F/A-18F Super Hornets from VFA-41 flying from the USS Nimitz, piloted by CDR David Fravor and LCDR Alex Dietrich, visually acquired and pursued a tic-tac-shaped object. The encounter was documented in the FLIR1 (or "Tic Tac") gun-camera video, declassified and released by the Department of Defense in April 2020.
Notable & intriguing
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Commander David Fravor and Lt. Commander Alex Dietrich provided on-the-record sworn testimony before the U.S. House Intelligence Committee on 26 July 2023, repeating accounts of the 14 November 2004 encounter previously made under oath. The Department of Defense officially confirmed the FLIR1, Gimbal, and GoFast videos as authentic on 27 April 2020.
U.S. DoD release, 27 April 2020; House Intelligence Subcommittee hearing, 26 July 2023
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USS Princeton operations specialist Senior Chief Kevin Day reported the AN/SPY-1 detected objects descending from over 60,000 feet to sea level in less than one second on multiple occasions during the 10-14 November 2004 window. The Princeton’s radar tracks have been confirmed by independent debriefing of three watch personnel from CG-59.
Day, sworn statement to MUFON, 2018; Pentagon UAP Task Force interim review, 25 June 2021
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Underwater Senior Chief sonar tech Sean Cahill of the USS Princeton has stated that on 16 November 2004, sonar contacts detected an object descending into the water at speed and remaining stationary on the ocean floor near the Catalina Channel.
Cahill, interview with Lex Fridman Podcast, 7 May 2023; Cahill testimony, MUFON 2020
Public-record items already documented about this subject. Folklore is labelled. Sources cited where the specificity warrants it.
Suggested watching
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The Phenomenon (2020) documentary
James Fox's late-career synthesis film. Fravor on camera, the FLIR1/Gimbal/GoFast footage in context, the 2017 NYT article's principals interviewed. The most cited single film of the 2017–2023 disclosure cycle.
essential — the canonical post-2017 documentary
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60 Minutes — UAP segment (2021) episode
Bill Whitaker interviews Fravor and Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich on broadcast prime time, May 16 2021. The segment that moved the Tic Tac from internet UFO discourse into mainstream news.
essential — the segment that mainstreamed the case
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Joe Rogan Experience #1361 — Commander David Fravor (2019) interview
Fravor's long-form account of the 2004 encounter, recorded before the 2021 ODNI report. The full timeline in his own words, including the CAP intercept and the cap point.
primary source — Fravor unfiltered
Public-record imagery
