Tic Tac
Also: Nimitz object; white pill; capsule-shaped object; smooth cylinder
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The visual record
Illustrations, recordings and archival references — each with its own provenance. A documented source is a starting point for investigation, not a verdict on its explanation.
FLIR / Nimitz
Original agency release. The recording's provenance is established; that alone does not determine the object's identity, speed or origin.
US military / DVIDS ↗Public domain — US government work; DVIDS usage terms applyLicence terms ↗Resized and WebP-converted for display; content unchanged.The Navy release statement
The official release establishes the origin of the historical videos, not a detailed visible-light view of the reported capsule. Document context.
US Department of Defense · 2020 ↗Link only — rights with the publisherAn interpretation of the reports
AI interpretation of Cmdr. David Fravor's 2004 description: a smooth white capsule with rounded ends and no wings, windows or exhaust. Not a photograph, not evidence.
UAP Record · ImageGen ↗Original illustrationDavid Fravor (archival clip) · 0:01:03
Open the source at the cited time. The episode thumbnail is video packaging, not a photograph of the reported subject.
American Alchemy / Jesse Michels ↗YouTube-hosted preview and player; not relicensedAmerican Alchemy · 1:14:15
Open the source at the cited time. The episode thumbnail is video packaging, not a photograph of the reported subject.
American Alchemy / Jesse Michels ↗YouTube-hosted preview and player; not relicensedMick West · 0:34:30
Open the source at the cited time. The episode thumbnail is video packaging, not a photograph of the reported subject.
American Alchemy / Jesse Michels ↗YouTube-hosted preview and player; not relicensedA smooth white capsule with no wings, exhaust or seams, named by Cmdr. David Fravor after the 2004 Nimitz encounter. The corpus quotes Fravor’s clip and a written pilot report, Mick West’s acceptance that Fravor saw “some kind of tic tac-shaped object”, and older witnesses who now apply the word to what they once called cigars or eggs.
Read the full account
The name comes from November 2004. In a clip the corpus plays, David Fravor says “We saw this little white Tic Tac looking object and it’s just kind of moving above the white water area”; a report read aloud in another episode describes a “small, solid, white Tic Tac object” moving “very abruptly”. Jesse Michels adds that a similar object was reported around the 2010 F.E. Warren missile incident, and that pilots “consistently report seeing tic tacs, saucers, orbs” over sensitive airspace.
Speakers stress what is missing rather than what is present: no wings, no exhaust, no seams, no sound. Even the corpus’s main sceptic concedes the shape — Mick West says “what Fravis saw was some kind of tic tac-shaped object” that “appeared to be moving around”, while arguing the later videos show ordinary aircraft. In a debate exchange the same word is pressed on a FLIR frame that West says is only “a white tic tac shape” because of the lighting.
The label has spread backwards. Gary McKinnon says the Malmstrom-era objects were “what they now call a tic tac but what we used to call cigar-” shaped, “just like a very smooth cylinder”; Charles Hall describes 1960s Nellis-range objects as “Like tic tacs” and “eggshaped”; Carlos de Souza, describing the 1996 Varginha object, says “It was like a cigar, a cylinder. Today, it’s known as a tic tac.” The corpus therefore records one word absorbing older cigar and egg reports.
Explanations offered: a classified US or adversary test vehicle (rejected by Fravor and Graves on performance grounds), sensor or perception artefacts for the video (West), and an unknown technology. Because the 2004 sighting is corroborated by several aircrew and radar operators, the report pattern is banded documented.
Reported characteristics
Every value is a report, not a specification.
| shape | Smooth elongated capsule with rounded ends; “a very smooth cylinder”; no fins, wings, windows or seams reported. |
|---|---|
| size | About the length of an F/A-18 (roughly 40–45 ft) in the Nimitz accounts; “small” in the written pilot report. |
| lights | None; a uniform white or matte surface. |
| sound | Not audible from the cockpit. |
| motion | Hovering over churning water, erratic darting, then near-instant acceleration; abrupt changes of direction. |
| era | 2004 Nimitz; the word then applied to 2010 F.E. Warren and retroactively to 1960s–1990s cigar and egg reports. |
Explanations offered
Classified US or adversary test vehicle
Sensor artefact, camera glare or misjudged size and distance (for the FLIR video)
Genuinely unidentified craft
Mentioned in the corpus
Passages this record cites, with the stamp of the block each quote sits in.
Harvard is Studying UFOs (Ft. Avi Loeb)
- 0:01:03 ▶ David Fravor (archival clip)
We saw this little white Tic Tac looking object and it's just kind of moving above the white water area.
- 0:01:03 ▶ David Fravor (archival clip)
Why The Pentagon Tried To Censor This UFO Book 21 May 2026
UFO Skeptic Mick West Challenged To A Debate 26 January 2025
- 0:34:30 ▶ Mick West
what Fravis saw was some kind of tic tac-shaped object. Yeah. Uh and it's it was it was it appeared to be moving around.
- 1:02:59 ▶
You're saying that it's a white tic tac shape. You an actual tic tac shape. Yeah, absolutely it is. And you're saying that it's got all is this funny weird shape. Yeah, we we because of the lighting.
- 0:34:30 ▶ Mick West
I Debated UFOs With America’s Top Skeptic (It Got Ugly...) 9 July 2026
- 0:25:10 ▶ Jesse Michels
In the 2010 case at FY War, it was this tic tac flying around.
- 0:25:10 ▶ Jesse Michels
The Hacker That Found NASA’s Secret Space Fleet [Gary McKinnon Interview] 1 March 2026
- 0:31:38 ▶ Gary McKinnon
what they now call a tic tac but what we used to call cigar- >> object. And this thing was admittedly it's low resolution. It's coming down slowly. But this thing looked very kind of smooth >> on the outside. There was no lines whether we'd be like plates fixed or screws and bolts
- 0:33:15 ▶ Gary McKinnon
Just like a very smooth cylinder. The geodic domes.
- 0:31:38 ▶ Gary McKinnon
“I Spent 3 Years With Tall White Aliens At Area 51" -UFO Whistleblower Charles Hall 11 September 2025
- 0:14:11 ▶ Charles Hall
Like tic tacs. >> Yeah, like like eggs. Like white eggs. They were eggshaped.
- 0:14:11 ▶ Charles Hall
“My Hospital Operated On An Alien!” -Top Surgeon [Exclusive Interview] 31 January 2026
Named in 1 upload (automatic name matching, 1 mention)
On the map
Nimitz Carrier Group 2004 (sea area), Nellis Range / Indian Springs, Malmstrom AFB / Oscar Flight, Roosevelt carrier group encounters (2014–2015), FLIR1 (Nimitz ATFLIR video), GIMBAL (Roosevelt ATFLIR video)… Open the full map filtered to this record.
Sources on this record
- 0:01:03 Harvard is Studying UFOs (Ft. Avi Loeb) · David Fravor (archival clip) ▶
We saw this little white Tic Tac looking object and it's just kind of moving above the white water area.
- 1:14:15 Why The Pentagon Tried To Censor This UFO Book ▶
Look down at small, solid, white Tic Tac object with a longitudinal axis pointing north-south and moving very abruptly
- 0:34:30 UFO Skeptic Mick West Challenged To A Debate · Mick West ▶
what Fravis saw was some kind of tic tac-shaped object. Yeah. Uh and it's it was it was it appeared to be moving around.
- 1:02:59 UFO Skeptic Mick West Challenged To A Debate ▶
You're saying that it's a white tic tac shape. You an actual tic tac shape. Yeah, absolutely it is. And you're saying that it's got all is this funny weird shape. Yeah, we we because of the lighting.
- 0:25:10 I Debated UFOs With America’s Top Skeptic (It Got Ugly...) · Jesse Michels ▶
In the 2010 case at FY War, it was this tic tac flying around.
- 0:31:38 The Hacker That Found NASA’s Secret Space Fleet [Gary McKinnon Interview] · Gary McKinnon ▶
what they now call a tic tac but what we used to call cigar- >> object. And this thing was admittedly it's low resolution. It's coming down slowly. But this thing looked very kind of smooth >> on the outside. There was no lines whether we'd be like plates fixed or screws and bolts
- 0:33:15 The Hacker That Found NASA’s Secret Space Fleet [Gary McKinnon Interview] · Gary McKinnon ▶
Just like a very smooth cylinder. The geodic domes.
- 0:14:11 “I Spent 3 Years With Tall White Aliens At Area 51" -UFO Whistleblower Charles… · Charles Hall ▶
Like tic tacs. >> Yeah, like like eggs. Like white eggs. They were eggshaped.
- 0:23:21 “My Hospital Operated On An Alien!” -Top Surgeon [Exclusive Interview] · Carlos de Souza (translated) ▶
It was like a cigar, a cylinder. Today, it's known as a tic tac." The same shape.
Built from graph nodes N-SPECIES-0103, N-CRAFT-0062.