FLIR1 / Tic Tac video
Infrared footage recorded by a Navy F/A-18 aircrew during the widely reported 2004 Tic Tac encounter.
- Source
- U.S. Navy
- Recorded
- November 2004
- Assessment
- Unresolved · Context-dependent
What the footage supports
The target remains distinct enough to show that the sensor was tracking something, but this public clip does not establish its size, range, or acceleration. The strongest claims of extraordinary behavior depend on pilot testimony and other sensor reports outside the video itself.
What the public record says
The public clip is connected to Navy aircrew reports from the 2004 Nimitz training event. The video itself preserves sensor imagery; the fuller behavior claims rely on testimony and other records outside the released excerpt.
Source-context summary—not a reconstructed quotation.
No mystery percentage. Just the record.
These labels evaluate what is publicly available, not whether a paranormal explanation is true.
- source
- Strong
- continuity
- Limited
- metadata
- Limited
- corroboration
- Partial
- conventional Checks
- Open
What else could account for it?
Distant conventional aircraft
Balloon or windborne object
Range and sensor-geometry misinterpretation
Evidence limits
The release is a short excerpt without the complete flight track, calibrated range data, raw sensor file, or synchronized radar record.
This is independent editorial analysis based on the public recording and official record. It is not a government conclusion. Assessments may change when better evidence becomes available.
New developments
The recording remains historically important, but no complete public package of raw sensor, radar, and flight-track data has resolved the event.
Pacific Ocean west of Southern California
Published locations are mapped at regional precision when exact coordinates are unavailable or sensitive.
Explore the full sightings map →Pins show the published general area, not exact incident coordinates. Classified, private, and uncertain locations are intentionally regional.
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This assistant answers from the published source, analysis, alternatives, and known evidence limits. It will not invent missing facts.