David Fravor

David Fravor is the retired U.S. Navy commander whose 2004 "Tic Tac" UAP encounter remains the most credible and best-documented military UFO case on record.

By Alexandre Le Hégarat · datastats · Updated June 15, 2026

David Fravor: The Pilot Who Changed the UAP Conversation

David Fravor is a retired U.S. Navy commander with roughly 24 years of service, a Top Gun graduate, and the former commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-41 (the “Black Aces”) aboard the USS Nimitz. He is not a fringe figure or a UFO hobbyist, he is a decorated career naval aviator whose credibility is essentially unimpeachable within military aviation circles.

On 14 November 2004, Fravor and a wingman intercepted an unidentified object off the coast of Southern California. What he described, a roughly 40-foot, white, wingless, Tic Tac-shaped craft exhibiting flight characteristics utterly beyond known aerospace technology, became the centerpiece of the modern UAP disclosure movement. The Pentagon has officially acknowledged the associated videos (FLIR1, among others), making this one of the very few cases with confirmed government authentication.

Fravor has consistently stated his opinion that the technology demonstrated was “far superior” to anything in the U.S. arsenal. Critically, he stops short of calling it extraterrestrial, he simply says it was unidentified and unlike anything he had ever seen in nearly a quarter-century of flying. That intellectual honesty is part of why his account carries so much weight.

He testified under oath before a House Oversight Committee hearing in July 2023, as Congressional interest in UAP transparency reached a new peak. His testimony, alongside others, helped push UAP from a late-night talk show punchline into a legitimate matter of national security debate on Capitol Hill.

People search for Fravor constantly because he sits at the intersection of two of the most searched topics on the internet: military credibility and the question of whether humanity is alone. He’s the closest thing the UAP world has to an unimpeachable primary source.

People also ask

Fravor's current place of residence has not been publicly disclosed, and we won't speculate on a private individual's home address. What is confirmed is that he is based in the United States following his retirement from the Navy.

David Fravor is American. He served roughly 24 years as a U.S. Navy officer and commander, which about covers the nationality question.

Fravor's exact date of birth has not been widely reported in verified public sources, so stating a precise age would be a guess. Based on his roughly 24-year Navy career and his rank at retirement, he is broadly estimated to be in his late 50s to early 60s, but treat that as unconfirmed until he or a reliable source states it directly.

Fravor's height has not been reported in any verified public source. Fighter pilots do have traditional height restrictions in the cockpit, but no confirmed figure for Fravor specifically is on the record.

This is a different David entirely. David Milgaard was a Canadian man wrongfully convicted of murder in 1970 who was exonerated in 1992. He received a settlement of CAD $10 million from the Saskatchewan government in 1997, one of the largest wrongful conviction settlements in Canadian history at the time.

Yes, by almost any objective standard. Fravor is a Top Gun graduate, a 24-year Navy veteran, and a former squadron commander who testified under oath before Congress in July 2023. The Pentagon itself has authenticated the videos associated with his 2004 encounter. There are very few UAP witnesses whose credentials come close.

Fravor's net worth has not been reported by any reliable public source, and we won't invent a number. He is a retired Navy commander and a frequent media guest and public speaker, beyond that, any specific figure would be unconfirmed speculation.

The tallest tsunami wave ever recorded struck Lituya Bay, Alaska in 1958, a megatsunami triggered by a rockslide that reached a staggering run-up height of approximately 524 metres (1,720 feet). It remains the largest wave in recorded human history, and it essentially scoured an entire mountainside of trees.

The largest known raptor (dromaeosaurid) was Utahraptor ostrommaysorum, which lived roughly 126 million years ago and could reach around 5–7 metres (16–23 feet) in length and weigh upwards of 300 kg. It makes the Velociraptor, already over-glamourised by Jurassic Park, look like a turkey by comparison.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by a massive undersea earthquake off Sumatra on 26 December, generated waves that reached heights of up to 30 metres (about 100 feet) in some coastal areas, particularly in Aceh, Indonesia. The disaster killed an estimated 227,000 people across 14 countries.

This is a fun hypothetical, not a factual question, so take this with the entertainment it deserves. Nevada (home to Area 51 and a dense concentration of military test ranges) and Colorado (NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain complex) are the pop-culture front-runners. Practically speaking, a landlocked state with heavy military infrastructure and low coastal exposure would fare best in most fictional invasion scenarios.

This question almost certainly refers to David Dobrik, the YouTuber, not David Fravor. Dobrik faced a significant public backlash in early 2021 following allegations involving his Vlog Squad, including a serious assault allegation against a former member. He lost major brand sponsorships and stepped back from YouTube for a period. His situation is distinct from anything involving David Fravor.

This refers to YouTubers Jeff Wittek and David Dobrik, not David Fravor. Jeff Wittek was seriously injured in a 2020 stunt involving an excavator operated by Dobrik. Wittek publicly detailed the incident and his injuries in his docuseries. As of widely reported coverage, legal proceedings between them have been discussed publicly, but the current precise status of any lawsuit should be verified against the latest reporting, as this page's knowledge has a cutoff.

Fravor's personal and marital life has not been disclosed in verified public sources, and per our real-people rules we don't report on private relationships that haven't been confirmed by the individual or reliable reporting. He has referred to family in public interviews but has not made his spouse a public figure.

This refers to Sir David Jason, the British actor who played Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses, a completely different David. His exact per-episode fee has varied across reports and was never officially confirmed by Jason or the BBC; reported figures from tabloid sources over the years should be treated as unverified. What is well-documented is that the show made him one of the most beloved and recognisable actors in British television history.

This refers to David Dicker, the Australian tech entrepreneur and founder of Dicker Data. He has appeared on Australian rich lists with a net worth reported in various years at over AUD $1 billion, making him one of Australia's wealthier tech figures, but specific current figures should be verified against the latest financial reporting, as valuations fluctuate.

Fravor is retired from the U.S. Navy. Post-retirement, he has been active as a public speaker, media commentator, and prominent witness in UAP-related Congressional and public proceedings. He does not appear to hold a publicly identified corporate or institutional role.

David Fravor is a retired U.S. Navy commander, Top Gun graduate, and former commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-41 aboard the USS Nimitz. He is best known as the lead pilot in the 14 November 2004 'Tic Tac' UAP encounter off Southern California, the most credible and best-documented military UFO case on record, with Pentagon-authenticated video footage. He testified about it under oath before Congress in July 2023.

On 14 November 2004, Fravor observed a roughly 40-foot, white, wingless, oval-shaped object, nicknamed the 'Tic Tac', hovering and then manoeuvring off the coast of Southern California in ways that defied the aerodynamic limits of any known aircraft. It had no visible propulsion, no wings, no exhaust, and could accelerate and change direction instantaneously. Fravor's stated opinion is that its technology was 'far superior' to U.S. capabilities; the object's origin remains officially unidentified, it has not been confirmed as extraterrestrial.

The raptor closest to that description is Utahraptor, which could stand well over 6 feet at the hip and is the largest known dromaeosaurid. If you're thinking of the creatures in Jurassic Park, those were actually loosely modelled on Deinonychus (and partly Utahraptor), the real Velociraptor was only about the size of a turkey, roughly 1.6 feet tall at the hip.