Alex Dietrich

Alex Dietrich is a former United States Navy (USN) aviator best known, alongside David Fravor, for her role in the 2004 USS Nimitz UAP encounter. According to the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group (CSG-11) AAV Incident Report, she was the pilot of FastEagle 02, one of two F/A-18Fs of Strike Fighter Squadron 41 (VFA-41) involved in the intercept and visual contact with the Anomalous Aerial Vehicle (AAV) on 2004-11-14.¹ At the time she held the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade and flew the other US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet involved in the encounter.²

On 2004-11-14, Dietrich and Fravor, each with a weapon systems officer in the back seat, were diverted to investigate radar contacts reported by USS Princeton (CG-59).³ Fravor detached Dietrich’s F/A-18F, which held at approximately 6,100 metres, while his own aircraft descended to between approximately 3,700 and 4,900 metres.⁴

According to Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs, the two pilots, flying at approximately 6,100 metres, looked down and saw the sea below churning in one spot, with whitecaps and a patch of bubbles rising from the water.⁵ Dietrich circled above while Fravor descended for a closer look at the object.⁶ The same source states that all four pilots noticed a bizarre object darting back and forth over the whitecaps, about 15 metres above the water.⁷ Fravor’s weapon systems officer maintained a running dialogue over the interflight radio with Dietrich’s FastEagle 02 and reported what they were seeing to USS Princeton.⁸ Dietrich’s own weapon systems officer was known by the call sign “Noodle”; together they made up FASTEAGLE 02.⁹

Dietrich said she initially tried to categorise the unidentified object as possibly a helicopter or a drone.¹⁰ She has described feeling vulnerable during the encounter because they had nothing with which to defend themselves.¹¹ Dietrich said that had she witnessed the object alone, she might not have reported it because of how implausible it would sound.¹² She described the Tic Tac object encountered during the 2004 USS Nimitz Unidentified Aerial Phenomena / Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) encounter as manoeuvring in a “playful” manner.¹³

Dietrich flew at Fravor’s wing during the encounter and had never spoken publicly about it before a 2021 interview.¹⁴ She has said she feels a responsibility to share her account because she was in a government aircraft, was on duty, and the material is unclassified.¹⁵ Years afterwards, Dietrich contacted Fravor to ask whether he had been contacted about the incident.¹⁶ Fravor, who had by then retired from the Navy, told her he had not been contacted since 2009, but that he was happy to meet with anyone who wanted to talk.¹⁷ Dietrich told Fravor that she had been invited to the Pentagon multiple times to discuss the encounter and to view other Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) videos.¹⁸

According to Luis Elizondo, neither Fravor nor Dietrich displayed any propensity to exaggerate, and their crews perceived them as the best of the best.¹⁹ Elizondo said that Dietrich, whose call sign was “New Girl”, was more skilled and deadly as a pilot than the call sign suggested.²⁰ He said that, fresh out of training, she flew circles around her peers, which was probably the reason she was handpicked for her assignment with the Black Aces squadron.²¹ Elizondo said he later heard a story that Dietrich had more confirmed kills in a period of time than the entire United States Marine Corps (USMC).²² Brad Byers and Shari Smith requested extensive data and asked to speak with the pilot witnesses Fravor and Dietrich, along with a radar operator, in connection with briefing James Mattis on UAP.²³ Elizondo also arranged for Christopher Mellon to take part in official debriefings with Fravor, Dietrich, and other US Navy personnel who had seen UAP up close or on military sensor systems.²⁴