What was the 'Tic Tac' UFO? The story behind retired Navy pilot's 2004 sighting ... trends now
UFOs have long captured the public's imagination, but never more so than during yesterday's US congress hearing into claims the American government is covering up its knowledge of alien craft.
On a day that sparked huge interest in the US and across the globe, the landmark panel heard from three key witnesses who shared their encounters with unexplained objects.
Among them was retired US Navy fighter pilot David Fravor, who once again reminded the world about his infamous encounter with a 'Tic Tac' shaped UFO 15 years ago.
'I'd like to say that the tic tac object we engaged in 2004 was far superior to anything that we had at the time, have today or looking to develop in the next 10 years,' he said.
So what exactly was the 'Tic Tac' UFO incident? And could the 'perfectly white, smooth' object with no windows that Fravor saw really have been an alien spaceship? MailOnline takes a look back at everything we know.
Evidence: retired US Navy fighter pilot David Fravor (pictured) once again reminded the world about his infamous encounter with a 'Tic Tac' shaped UFO 15 years ago, during a bombshell US Congress hearing
What actually happened?
Before we get to Fravor, it's important to mention another former US Navy pilot first.
Chad Underwood was the man who actually shot footage of the 'Tic Tac' UFO in November 2004.
He broke his silence in 2019, detailing for the first time his bizarre experiences while flying over the Pacific.
At the time, Underwood had been taking part in Navy carrier group exercises just off the coast of Mexico.
For around two weeks, their missile cruiser USS Princeton had been tracking a mysterious aircraft on an advanced electronic radar.
Contact with the craft was so inexplicable that the system was even shut down and checked for bugs - but operators continued to track it.
On November 14, then Navy commander Fravor claimed he made visual contact with this object, which seemed to dive below the water, resurface, and speed out of sight when he tried to approach it.
Underwood then also saw the strange object for himself just after Fravor urged him to keep a look out.
The former pilot told New York Magazine: 'So, we go out to where our designated training area is. We're not necessarily looking for something, but the Princeton had a specific object that they wanted us to hunt, for lack of a better word. And all of a sudden, I got this blip on my radar.
What exactly was the 'Tic Tac' UFO incident? In 2004, Navy pilot Chad Underwood shot footage of a strange flying object in the sky, which was also seen by Navy commander David Fravor
Underwood is the one who coined the description 'Tic Tac' for the 'perfectly white' wingless oblong that was captured from his cockpit's in-flight video (pictured)
The 2004 'Tic Tac' sighting is once again at the centre of debate as three military whistleblowers spoke at Congress to uncover 'the biggest cover-up in history'. Pictured left to right: Ryan Graves, a former pilot, Air Force and intelligence agency veteran David Grusch and Navy veteran fighter pilot Commander David Fravor
'The thing that stood out to me the most was how erratic it was behaving. And what I mean by "erratic" is that its changes in altitude, air speed, and aspect were just unlike things that I’ve ever encountered before flying against other air targets,' Underwood told the magazine.
'Because, aircraft, whether they’re manned or unmanned, still have to obey the laws of physics. They have to have some source of lift, some source of propulsion. The Tic Tac was not doing that. It was going from like
