What are your thoughts on this comment from AskPhysics regarding the Nimitz incident, GOFAST, and Cmdr. David Fravor’s experience? I’ve been quite undecided about these events, so I\u2019d appreciate hearing perspectives on the now-deleted account’s insights. Initially, I found Cmdr. Fravor’s tic-tac story fascinating, but since then, he’s appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast and at UFO conventions, almost like a celebrity. Yet, we haven’t encountered any additional reports concerning tic-tacs in the sky or ocean. That said, I found this comment intriguing. I won’t provide a link, as I’m unsure of the rules, but here’s a summary:<\/p>\n
The commenter provided several explanations for the events:<\/p>\n
FLIR (Nimitz 2004)<\/strong>: According to them, the footage shows a distant shape, likely an aircraft, moving consistently left. The apparent “jump” occurs when the pilot switches from a 2x zoom to 1x zoom and loses tracking, which creates a misleading impression of sudden movement.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n GIMBAL (Roosevelt 2014)<\/strong>: They explain that what appears to be the object rotating is actually the gimbal mechanism trying to stabilize the view while the plane moves. An IR lens flare compounds the issue, making it look like the object is rotating while it remains stable.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n GOFAST (Roosevelt 2015)<\/strong>: The analysis suggests the object is moving at about 30 mph, which can be calculated from the displayed data. It seems to move quickly due to parallax effects, as it’s farther from the water than observers typically assume, leading to the impression of faster movement.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Nimitz Radar Tracks (2004)<\/strong>: These objects behaved like balloons blown by the wind, and the random elevation changes were most likely glitches in a new radar system or radar spoofing.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Fravor’s Claims (2004)<\/strong>: The commenter posits that Fravor may have misjudged the distance and altitude of the object due to excitement and parallax. From a height of 20,000 feet, he spotted a disturbance in the water and assumed a small white object was near the surface when it was likely 12,000 feet high. This misperception created an illusion of the object mirroring his movements as he approached it. Other pilots did not report seeing this mirroring, but rather the object simply rose to meet him, reinforcing the idea of a false perception resulting from parallax.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Final Object<\/strong>: The commenter argues that another object seen 60 miles away is likely unrelated to Fravor’s experience. There was no evidence connecting the two, and excitement likely fueled the speculation among witnesses.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Although this is a lengthy explanation filled with seemingly improbable coincidences, it boils down to a series of isolated incidents over a span of 12 years involving different personnel and ships, suggesting mostly one-time radar glitches and misinterpretations by pilots facing visual challenges with objects at unknown distances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"