Navy Pilot Alex Dietrich: “We Genuinely Don’t Know What It Was” | Tic Tac UFO | Ep 781
September 8, 2026
One of the most important interviews ever presented on Podcast UFO, host Martin Willis sits down with former U.S. Navy F/A-18 pilot Alex Dietrich for a candid discussion of the November 14, 2004 Tic Tac UFO encounter involving the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group.
Dietrich describes how an otherwise routine training mission suddenly changed when her flight was redirected by the USS Princeton to investigate an unidentified contact.
She recalls the disturbance in the ocean, the moment the white Tic Tac-shaped object entered her field of view and the confusion of watching it react to Commander David Fravor’s aircraft.
“We weren’t supposed to be there,” Dietrich explains. “What the hell is this thing? Where did it come from? What is it doing? How is it doing that? Is it a threat?”
Flying high cover during the encounter, Dietrich found herself fascinated and unnerved. The aircrew were unarmed, the object could not be identified and no one knew what it was capable of doing.
Years later, after questioning whether they might have been unknowingly sent into a secret American test, she says she was repeatedly reassured that the object was not a U.S. system, that no submarine was operating in the area and that there was no evidence of American or allied activity responsible for what they witnessed.
Dietrich also discusses the troubling absence of an immediate formal investigation. No specialized reporting system, debriefing procedure or UAP investigative infrastructure existed for the aircrews at the time.
When she was eventually questioned at the Pentagon years later, details had already begun to fade.
The conversation goes far beyond the mechanics of the encounter.
Dietrich explains why she does not consider herself a whistleblower, how her identity became public after information from the case appeared online, why she resisted media attention and what finally persuaded her to appear on 60 Minutes.
She speaks about the ridicule experienced by military witnesses, the need to examine extraordinary reports without automatically embracing or dismissing them and the importance of treating experiencers with dignity.
Her position remains neutral: she does not claim to know what the Tic Tac was, but she believes unexplained objects in controlled military and civilian airspace deserve serious, scientifically responsible investigation.
The Tic Tac encounter from one of its principal eyewitnesses, told with honesty, and extraordinary clarity.
*** Correction: John Mack was a psychiatrist
00:00 Introduction
00:49 Alex Dietrich’s early life, education, and ambitions
03:35 Choosing adventure and a career as a Navy pilot
07:14 Flight school, September 11, and a new sense of duty
09:44 Deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan
12:09 The Nimitz witnesses and Americans for Safe Aerospace
14:27 Why the Tic Tac encounter remains so compelling
15:15 Dietrich’s first reaction and lack of prior UFO interest
18:47 A routine training flight becomes extraordinary
21:35 Redirected by the USS Princeton to investigate
22:17 Disturbed water and the first sight of the Tic Tac
23:56 The object’s movement and Dietrich’s high-cover position
25:38 Confusion, overlapping radio traffic, and vulnerability
29:27 Reports of additional objects and possible military testing
30:30 The Pentagon said the Tic Tac was not U.S. technology
31:44 Friend, foe, natural phenomenon, or something else?
33:24 How the encounter changed Dietrich’s life
35:18 Advancing serious UAP research despite the distractions
37:00 Missing time, experiencers, and research without ridicule
41:17 What happened after the pilots returned to the carrier
42:45 Why there was no official debrief or reporting system
43:53 The need for UAP documentation tools and checklists
44:14 Questions investigators failed to ask immediately
45:47 Dietrich’s delayed Pentagon debrief
48:02 Why Dietrich initially remained out of the spotlight
49:23 The encounter was never classified
50:20 Being publicly identified and remaining “aggressively neutral”
52:07 How 60 Minutes led to continued public interviews
52:36 The WSOs’ experiences speaking publicly
53:26 Vetting interview requests and avoiding sensationalism
55:13 Closing thoughts and appreciation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dhwYCZqyrY
https://x.com/PodcastUFO/status/2097363484363104464