David Fravor is a retired U.S. Navy aviator who commanded Strike Fighter Squadron 41, the “Black Aces,” aboard the USS Nimitz. On 14 November 2004, he led a training flight that was redirected by the USS Princeton to investigate radar contacts operating near the carrier group off Southern California. Fravor and pilot Alex Dietrich then visually observed a white, oblong object over disturbed water.

Fravor’s authority in the case rests on a much longer naval career. He trained for demanding carrier operations, flew combat aircraft, and eventually commanded a frontline squadron, responsibilities that required judgment about speed, distance, risk, and aircraft performance. After retirement he entered private aviation work and initially discussed the encounter within a limited circle. Public reporting in 2017 transformed him from a veteran with an unusual story into a nationally recognized witness repeatedly asked to reconstruct a few extraordinary minutes.

Fravor has described descending toward the object as it appeared to react to his aircraft, climb, and then accelerate out of sight. Controllers later reported a contact at the flight’s prearranged rendezvous point. A subsequent flight flown by Chad Underwood captured the infrared video now called FLIR1. Fravor says the object’s performance was unlike aircraft he knew, but he does not claim to know who or what made it.

His detailed public testimony—before journalists, on major podcasts, and under oath at the July 2023 House hearing—made him one of the best-known firsthand witnesses in modern UAP history. Fravor anchors the human-observation portion of a multi-witness military case. His credibility as a pilot informs the account; the ultimate explanation still depends on recovering and evaluating the full sensor record.