Strange Formations And Patterns - The Erratic Behaviour Of UFOs Now Pose A Safety Risk To Military Pilots And Commercial Airlines, According To Former Naval Aviator Ryan Graves
A reconstruction of the close-air encounter with a cube inside a sphere, encountered by Graves’ squadron - credit Andrew Pearce
Written by Christopher Sharp - 27 May 2022
In an exclusive interview with Liberation Times, Ryan Graves has provided further details about the mysterious crafts / objects witnessed by naval aviators in restricted air space over the east Atlantic coast of the United States
Graves describes the bizarre appearance and behaviour of the objects - sometimes stationary and sometimes creating patterns when viewed through radar
Speaking about the gimble, naval aviators known to Graves say it appeared to be in constant formation with smaller objects
Describing the behaviours of UAPs, Graves says: “When proceeding in a straight line, they were always in some direction that would take them further out to sea, or along the coastline, never inland.”
Some have speculated such objects could represent foreign adversarial drones. But according to Graves, the appearance and capabilities do not match those of known drone technology
Graves is now working with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and is attempting to address safety concerns regarding commercial air traffic
Despite recent progress made in Congress, Graves states, that “without radar or camera systems, commercial airlines have no means other than pilot lookout for avoidance.”
Former naval aviator lieutenant Ryan Graves made headlines in 2021 when appearing on the flagship U.S. news show 60 Minutes, revealing that fellow aviators saw UFOs, now known as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) every day for at least two years.
In an exclusive interview with Liberation Times, Graves has provided further details about the mysterious crafts / objects witnessed by aircrews in restricted air space over the east Atlantic coast of the United States and the progress that he believes must still be made in eradicating the stigma surrounding UAP following a recent congressional hearing.
In the years following the sightings, Graves has briefed congressional committees on Capitol Hill, to raise awareness and advocate for more action to investigate the mysterious craft and ensure aircrews are safe, after some near-misses.
Those efforts are now coming to fruition after President Biden approved the creation of a new UFO Office, named AOIMSG, which will provide no less than six briefings and reports to key congressional committees in 2022, including a new publicly available unclassified report, expected to be released in October 2022.
Political efforts to address UAP gained further momentum this month when the C3 Subcommittee held a public hearing about the issue.
With political efforts now advancing, Graves feels this is just one component of a larger effort involving academic institutions which are now dipping their toes into the water, including Harvard University’s Galileo Project, which will investigate UAP by utilising a team of world-class scientists led by Harvard Astronomer Avi Loeb, who will establish a network of telescopes across the USA.
Furthermore, Graves discusses how the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) asked him to form a permanent Committee to serve as a neutral, trusted, and scientifically-focused organization to enhance aviation safety by mitigating barriers to the study of UAP. The UAP Community of Interest is hosting a session at the Aviation 2022 Forum July 29th with industry experts.
And then, there is the private sector, where Graves alludes to companies that have sprung up to collect, collate, and analyse data.
If secrets are being kept by the U.S. government about UAP, then such organisations may uncover them.
The Gimble Was In Formation With Smaller Craft
Perhaps the most famous UAP video to emerge from the east coast incidents is named ‘the gimbal’ which appears to show a wingless object rotating against the wind.
The object did not appear to show any exhaust plume associated with aircraft. and according to the pilots, who Graves knows, it was in constant formation with smaller objects.
Graves explains:
“I’m about 50% certain within 5 nautical miles and perhaps 90% certain they were within 15 nautical miles. This is about as accurate as I can make this assessment without fearing I’m artificially generating inaccurate memories. “
Graves describes the strange movements of the formation, which does not match those which are commonly used by any known air force, adding:
“The smaller ‘fleet’ of vehicles was, when viewed from a top-down view, appeared in a rough wedge formation. This formation executed a turn with a radius of turn.
“When a wedge formation of aircraft turn, they need to be close to each other, otherwise, the vehicles on the ‘outside’ of the turn will have to cover a greater distance than the aircraft on the interior of the turn. You can almost predict which position in a formation an aircraft is based on its fuel state relative to the flight lead.
“The objects in the ‘formation’ did not turn in a tight formation. There was a separation between the objects that appeared to bias the objects toward the inside of the turn which was remedied when the group ‘rolled out of the turn.”
The bizarre appearance and behaviour of the objects seem baffling - sometimes stationary and sometimes creating patterns when viewed through radar. On this Graves comments:
“The UAPs were indeed very often stationary over the Earth, but not always. They would be tracked on the radar flying what appeared to be ‘racetrack’ patterns or sometimes circular patterns.
“When proceeding in a straight line, they were always in some direction that would take them further out to sea, or along the coastline, never inland.”
Their Capabilities And Behaviour Did Not Correspond With Drone Technology
Some have speculated such objects could represent foreign adversarial drones. But according to Graves, the appearance and capabilities do not match those of known drone technology.
Graves' squadron experienced a close-air encounter with an object which can only be described as a cube inside a sphere.
Although fascinating in appearance, it still posed as a risk to air crew.
Graves describes the exhibited behaviour which did not correspond with foreign drones, using the cube inside a sphere as an example:
“These behaviors ranged typically in the 0.4-.0.6 mach range, throughout the airspace. Some of the faster tracks I observed were in the 1.1-1.2 Mach range and heading east.
“Another interesting example was observing trackfiles that appeared to have a small amount of random ‘drift’ from a center point (smoothly bouncing around). During zero wind conditions, this would be marginally interesting.
“However, the description above is representative of what would be observed with 60 knots of wind. For example, the object [cube inside a sphere) behaved as if it had some spherical boundary within which it drifted unaffected by the environmental conditions of its environment.”
Since Graves and other naval aviators, including David Fravor and Alex Dietrich (who spotted the famous tic tac object in 2004) went public about such incidents, the U.S. Navy has introduced new reporting guidelines to keep track of UAP and ensure all sightings and incidents are reported.
Is Washington Doing Enough And Are Commercial Airlines At Risk?
In 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its much-anticipated report into UAP, and found that such objects do represent a risk to flight safety, and perhaps national security.
For Graves, the risk posed by UAP are real - and for many naval aviators, such objects aren’t the topic of scepticism and stigma, but an everyday reality which could threaten their lives. Graves remarks:
“I believe one of the most important shifts, in the context of aviation safety, is that UAPs are being integrated into the mental frameworks that aviators use to manage their daily operations in high-risk environments. It’s real and you can hit one.
“Institutional support will lag, as it always does, but initial efforts, such as new reporting protocols, have gathered data that traditionally would have been shrugged off.”
The curiosity about UAP has now ignited a public conversation in the U.S. where the previously attached stigma is now fading.
As Graves notes, public statements of support by leaders such as Former President Barack Obama and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, among many others, have forced many to look inward at their assumptions about this topic.
With such surging interest in UAP and a recent Congressional hearing, Graves still believes much progress can be made, especially in regards to addressing commercial airline safety, stating:
"The first public hearings on UAP was a great first step. However, without follow up sessions, it is an introduction without a story. DoD leadership has stated very clearly that these objects are physical, unexplained, and numerous.
They pose an aviation safety risk - no questions asked.
How does DoD justify not sharing such safety data with commercial aviation safety organizations?
Without radar or camera systems, commercial airlines have no means other than pilot lookout for avoidance. I wonder how comfortable commercial airline pilots are with calling out potential UAP traffic over the radio?"
Although progress has started to take shape, there are no signs that the Pentagon plans to share classified materials which could be the eventual difference between life and death situations in the skies. And one can suspect Graves, through his work with the AIAA, will be working hard in the coming months to ensure this issue is fully addressed.