Chad Underwood

“Lt Underwood was a member of VFA-41 and was the Weapons and Sensors Officer (WSO) flying with LT {{redacted: ~2 words}}.”

“They were a part of the second F/A-18F section airborne that day from VFA-41.”

“Their flight launched following the FASTEAGLE flight.”

“The flight met up with LT {{redacted: ~2 words}} and LT Chad Underwood's flight in the paraloft and passed what they had seen.”

“FASTEAGLE flight told LT Underwood's flight what they saw and to try to see and record what they could.”

“Chad, when he took off, when he got the video, we landed, we told them, hey, look, we just chased this thing.”

“Navy fighter pilot Lieutenant Chad Underwood managed to capture some video footage of the UAP, using Advanced Targeting Forward Looking Infrared Radar (ATFLIR or FLIR for short).”

“They completed their departure from the USS Nitmiz, climbed to altitude and separated to begin the training portion of the flight.”

“According to LT Underwood it was a clear day. There were no clouds and there was a discernable blue horizon.”

“The time was approximately 1500L.”

“The flight checked with the E-2C and separated. Their jet proceeded south to the southern cap.”

“They flew at 20,000 feet and were flying a max endurance profile at approximately 300 knots ground speed.”

“All on board systems were functioning normally. The radar was in a standard search mode (RWS/ 80NM/ 4bar/ intr) and the FLIR was in L+S slave (the FLIR would point in direction of an L+S track).”

“There were no radio or communication interference and they had entry into the Link-16 network.”

“Initial awareness of an object came via the radar. According to the radar display, the initial tracks were at approximately 30-40 nm to the south of the aircraft.”

“LT Underwood was controlling the radar and FLIR and attempted multiple times to transition the radar to Single Target Track (STT) mode on the object. The radar could not take a lock, the b-sweep would raster around the hit, build an initial aspect vector (which never stabilized) and then would drop and continue normal RWS b-sweep.”

“First, the UAP defies the pilot’s attempt to get a good lock on it.”

“When asked, LT Underwood stated that there were no jamming cues (strobe, champagne bubbles, "any normal EA indications"). It "just appeared as if the radar couldn't hack it."”

“The radar couldn't receive enough information to create a single target track file.”

“The FLIR showed an object at 0 ATA and approximately -5deg elevation (Figure 2).”

“According to LT Underwood, "the target was best guess co-altitude or a few thousand feet below," estimating the object to be between 15-20 thousand feet.”

“The object, according to the FLIR, appeared stationary (Figure 3). There was no discernable movement from the object with the only closure being a result of the aircraft's movement.”

“As LT Underwood watched the object it began to move out of FLIR field of view to the left. LT Underwood made no attempt to slew the FLIR and subsequently lost situational awareness to the object.”

“solid white, smooth, with no edges. It was uniformly colored with no nacelles, pylons, or wings.”

“[image: FLIR image in White Hot Mode showing a faint bright object against a dark background, labeled Figure 2.]”

“[image: FLIR image in Black Hot mode showing a faint dark object against a lighter background, labeled Figure 3.]”

“LT Underwood was clear in that he couldn't confirm that it was the same object as described by FASTEAGLE flight. He never had visual, only seeing the object via the FLIR.”

“He reaffirmed that all systems were functional.”

“The Flight continued with training mission with no further contact with object.”

“Following completion of the training portion, the section returned to the ship for a normal approach, landing and shutdown.”

“As Commander Fravor and his wingman returned to the USS Nimitz from their Tic Tac encounter that 14 November afternoon, a third pair of aircraft headed out. One of the pilots, Lieutenant Chad Underwood, had what is called an ATFLIR pod on his jet.”

“En route, Underwood's weapons systems officer checked the cap point where the previous pilots Dave Fravor and his female pilot wingman last saw the UAP and, sure enough, there it was waiting for them.”

“Disturbingly, as the US Navy jet tried to lock on to the object with its radar, there were clear indications of deliberate jamming, which Commander Fravor says could be perceived as a hostile act, as technically an act of war'.”

“The weapons systems officer sitting behind Underwood was eventually able to lock on to the object using the pod's infra-red mode, meaning it showed up on his screen as a white object in a black background.”

“'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.'”

“It was just behaving in ways that aren't physically normal. That's what caught my eye. 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 50,000 feet to, you know, a hundred feet in like seconds, which is not possible.”

“The crew met in CVIC and debriefed.”

“LT Underwood said that the CIVC section attempted to collect his tapes but he refused.”

“They proceeded to their ready room where they debriefed with CDR Fravor and his flight.”

“Both Underwood and Fravor/Slaight reported the UAP disappearing over the horizon in an instant.”

“the pilot of the airplane that took the video that chad was in if you talk to that individual they really don't have the recollection they were just out flying that day and it wasn't a big deal”

“For about two days, they played the Goofy movies. There's a comic on the back of the Air Wing schedule... the second one was me and the guy in my back seat, and it was men in black, but it had our names, you know, protecting the world, protecting the Nimitz battle group type stuff.”

“The ATFLIR video of the encounter was downloaded when Lieutenant Underwood returned to the USS Nimitz; conspiracy theories abound among crewmen who saw the video while the ship was still at sea.”

“LT Underwood was not asked to sign any non-disclosure agreement and he is uncertain how far up the chain the reporting went past his commanding officer.”

“When asked LT Underwood couldn't confirm any physiological or psychological feelings that were out of the ordinary. He only expressed a feeling of confusion during the event.”

“The pilot who videoed the encounter, Chad Underwood, says that soon after landing, he answered a few questions in a phone call with someone from NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command”

“Beyond a few questions a NORAD investigator put to Underwood, I was told no other internal agency investigated the encounter.”

“Underwood, an otherwise serious and focused pilot, never indulged in flights of fancy.”

“The awesome implication from what Underwood conclusively filmed was that someone, somewhere, had indeed achieved a technological breakthrough that showed such manoeuvres were actually possible.”