GRAVES, Ryan

Lieutenant Ryan Graves served as an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot with VFA-11 "Red Rippers" squadron, stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. During training missions from 2014-2015, Graves and his squadron routinely encountered unidentified aerial objects that appeared on radar and were visible to pilots, often in restricted military airspace.

Graves reported that these objects demonstrated flight characteristics beyond known aircraft capabilities, including hovering against hurricane-force winds, accelerating to hypersonic speeds, and remaining airborne for over 12 hours without apparent propulsion signatures. The encounters became so frequent that pilots included them in pre-flight briefings as potential collision hazards.

His squadron captured several encounters on aircraft sensors and radar systems. Graves emphasized the safety implications of these encounters, noting that commercial aviation operates in the same airspace and faces similar collision risks from unidentified objects exhibiting erratic flight patterns.

Graves testified before Congress in July 2023 as part of a UAP hearing, advocating for improved reporting systems and reduced stigma around pilot encounters with unexplained phenomena. He founded Americans for Safe Aerospace, an organization supporting aviators who report UAP encounters and pushing for better investigation protocols.