FORM 112 - MADAR SIGHTING
INFORMATION REPORT
IN THE PACIFIC, SW OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
- NOVEMBER 14, 2004
I. DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT
Nov. 14, 2004; 100 mi out in
Pacific from San Diego
Daytime. Two F-18 Hornets alerted to UFO in Pacific that had been
dogging the USS Princeton for two weeks. F-18's tried to intercept
and object dove from 80,000 feet to 20,000' and hovered over ocean
and either dropped out of radar range or shot straight back up. The
radio operator on the USS Princeton instructed Commander Fravor and
Commander Slaight to investigate. The two fighter planes headed
toward the objects. The Princeton alerted them as they closed in,
but when they arrived at “merge plot” with the object, so close that
the Princeton could not tell which were the objects and which were
the fighter jets, neither Commander Fravor nor Commander Slaight
could see anything at first. There was nothing on their radars.
Then, Commander Fravor looked down to the sea. It was calm that day,
but the waves were breaking over something that was just below the
surface. Whatever it was, it was big enough to cause the sea to
churn. Hovering 50 feet above the churn was an aircraft of some
kind, whitish, that was around 40 feet long and oval in shape. The
craft was jumping around erratically, staying over the wave
disturbance but not moving in any specific direction, Commander
Fravor said. The disturbance looked like frothy waves and foam, as
if the water were boiling. Commander Fravor began a circular descent
to get a closer look, but as he got nearer the object began
ascending toward him. It was almost as if it were coming to meet him
halfway, he said. Commander Fravor abandoned his slow circular
descent and headed straight for the object. But then the object
peeled away. “It accelerated like nothing I’ve ever seen,” he said
in the interview. He was, he said, “pretty weirded out.” The two
fighter jets then conferred with the operations officer on the
Princeton and were told to head to a rendezvous point 60 miles away,
called the cap point, in aviation parlance. They were en route and
closing in when the Princeton radioed again. Radar had again picked
up the strange aircraft. “Sir, you won’t believe it,” the radio
operator said, “but that thing is at your cap point.” “We were at
least 40 miles away, and in less than a minute this thing was
already at our cap point,” Commander Fravor, who has since retired
from the Navy, said in the interview. By the time the two fighter
jets arrived at the rendezvous point, the object had disappeared.
The fighter jets returned to the Nimitz. (CBS News, New York
Times, Washington Post)
II. MADAR DATA
N/a
III. STATUS OF INVESTIGATION
USN
IV. CONCLUSIONS
See report