Ryan Graves

Graves flew F/A-18 Super Hornets with VFA-11 "Red Rippers" out of NAS Oceana. He has described a period beginning around 2014 when, following upgrades to the squadron's radar systems, pilots began regularly encountering UAPs in their restricted training airspace off Virginia Beach.

The objects were described as dark cubes inside transparent spheres, travelling at speeds of up to Mach 1 with no visible exhaust or propulsion, in all weather conditions. Graves said encounters occurred almost daily for extended periods and that his squadron largely normalised them due to their frequency — which he described as the most alarming aspect.

He reported the encounters through official military channels but received little response. He went public in 2019 via The New York Times and subsequently founded Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA), a non-profit organisation to advocate for pilot safety regarding UAP incidents and to create a confidential reporting channel for military and commercial aviators.

Graves testified before Congress in July 2023 alongside David Grusch and David Fravor and has repeatedly called for a formal, non-stigmatised reporting mechanism for pilots encountering unexplained objects.

• ▸Squadron encountered UAPs on a near-daily basis over the U.S. East Coast for months in 2014–2015
• ▸Objects travelled at speeds and in conditions no known aircraft could match
• ▸Dark cube-in-sphere objects came within 50 feet of his aircraft on at least one occasion
• ▸The normalisation of encounters within the squadron represents a serious aviation safety problem
• ▸Pilots are systematically discouraged from reporting UAP encounters due to career stigma

• 1.Multiple pilot eyewitness accounts across VFA-11 squadron
• 2.Radar data from carrier battle group systems
• 3.Congressional testimony under oath (July 2023)
• 4.Ongoing collection of pilot reports through Americans for Safe Aerospace