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Documented case · Atlantic Ocean off Florida’s eastern coast

“Go Fast” Navy FLIR recording

January 2015 · Details below are limited to the linked public record. Source conclusions are attributed and do not establish an extraordinary cause.

Incident date
January 2015
Place in source
Atlantic Ocean off Florida’s eastern coast
Location precision
AARO gives the eastern coast of Florida and says the available video did not permit an exact position solution. The marker is a broad regional locator.

Documented record

A U.S. Navy F/A-18F pilot recorded an object with a Forward Looking Infrared sensor. The video looked as if the object was moving quickly near the ocean surface; AARO’s analysis placed it at about 13,000 feet.

Source assessment

AARO could not definitively identify the object. It assessed with high confidence that the object did not show anomalous performance; its wind-adjusted speed estimate ranged from about 5 to 92 mph.

Details stated in the record

Reporter
U.S. Navy F/A-18F aircrew
Sensor
Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR)
Object altitude
Reported: near the ocean surface; AARO assessed about 13,000 feet.
Object speed
Reported: appeared fast; AARO’s wind-adjusted estimate was about 5–92 mph.
Object shape
Reported: round; AARO assessed spherical or oblate ellipsoid.
AARO confidence
High confidence: no anomalous speeds or performance characteristics.

Not available in the cited public record

  • The exact object position, heading, and speed could not be solved from the released data.
  • AARO did not definitively identify the object.

Source references

  1. “Go Fast” case resolution and methodology (opens in a new tab)

    AARO · U.S. Department of Defense