David Fravor

David Fravor is a retired U.S. Navy commander who became a central figure in UAP discussions after piloting an F/A-18F Super Hornet during an encounter with an unidentified object on November 14, 2004. He has testified before Congress about the incident and spoken publicly about his experience in media appearances.

What was his military background?

Fravor enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17, then transferred to the U.S. Naval Academy two years later. He served 24 years in the military, with 18 of those years as a Navy jet pilot. He graduated from the Navy TOPGUN flight program and commanded Strike Fighter Squadron Forty-One (VFA-41), known as the "Black Aces," aboard the USS Nimitz. He completed five deployments to the Persian Gulf, starting with Operation Desert Storm, and retired from the Navy in 2006.

What happened during the 2004 encounter?

On November 14, 2004, advanced radar aboard the USS Princeton detected what operators described as "multiple anomalous aerial vehicles" descending 80,000 feet in less than a second. Fravor and fellow pilot Alex Dietrich were directed to investigate. Fravor described the object as about the size of his F/A-18F, with no markings, no wings, and no exhaust plumes. When he tried to cut off the object, it accelerated so quickly that it seemed to disappear and was detected roughly 60 miles away less than a minute later.

What did he say about the investigation?

In his opening statement to Congress, Fravor said the 2004 encounter was captured in a 90-second video but was never formally investigated. When asked if any reporting took place after the incident, he said there was just a standard debrief but nothing else. "No one else talked to us," he told lawmakers.

How has he spoken publicly about the encounter?

Fravor's account was featured in a December 2017 New York Times article that also revealed the Pentagon's UAP investigation program. In May 2021, he appeared on CBS News "60 Minutes" alongside Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich to describe the encounter in detail. He was also featured in the 2008 PBS documentary Carrier and has been interviewed on The Joe Rogan Experience.

What did he tell Congress?

On July 26, 2023, Fravor testified under oath before the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, appearing alongside former fighter pilot Ryan Graves and former intelligence officer David Grusch. During his testimony, he stated: "I think what we experienced was, like I said, well beyond the material science and the capabilities that we had at the time, that we have currently or that we're going to have in the next 10 to 20 years."