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This is the written testimony that former Navy F/A-18 pilot Ryan Graves gave to the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs at its first public hearing on UAP. Graves says that UAP are routinely seen but underreported, and that stigma and heavy classification hide what the government knows. He describes the encounters his squadron had in Warning Area W-72 off Virginia Beach. He also calls for commercial pilot reporting, empowered investigation and declassification of UAP data.
Conclusion: There are credible reports from both military and commercial aircrew of unidentified objects in our military and commercial airspace occurring with regularity. The UAP Task Force reported in 2021 that there were 11 near misses with UAP and I understand that number has grown.1 In April 2022, the FAA issued an alert to its operation managers that a commercial aircraft over West Virginia experienced a double attitude and double autopilot failure while flying under a UAP. Stigma surrounding UAP should not undermine the seriousness of this domain awareness gap. If UAP are foreign drones, it is an urgent national security problem. If it is something else, it is an issue for science. In either case, it is a concern for safety of flight. Next steps: To identify and evaluate the nature and intent of UAP we need (1) accurate reporting to determine scope, (2) empowered, unbiased investigation authority, (3) a transparent process to share the findings and data publicly to be studied by scientists. Commercial pilot reporting Today, FAA regulations direct pilots to make UAP reports to civilian organizations. Commercial aircrew who witness UAP are extremely frustrated that there is no reporting system for UAP and no protections against retaliation. They are hesitant to discuss anything “weird” on the radio with air traffic control or in any official company forum, and are only more recently talking freely amongst themselves. They are afraid of professional consequences and they deserve protection. The absence of UAP reporting for commercial pilots creates a domain awareness gap in our airspace. If China is operating advanced UAP near Hawaii, and commercial pilots are observing it routinely, today there is no way to connect those dots. Empowered, unbiased investigation into UAP We need to restore decades of mistrust with the public and UAP witnesses. My lived experience over the past few months has been that as stigma is pushed back and witnesses develop trust in the process, remarkable accounts begin to emerge. The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office is supposed to serve as a central clearing house for the analysis of UAP incidents, but it must have the authority it needs to do its job and it must build trust with witnesses. Director, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick said in the recent NASA Independent Study Team meeting that “metallic orbs” traveling up to Mach 2 with no visible lifting surface or propulsion are being seen all over the 1https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Prelimary-Assessment-UAP-20210625.pdf
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