Nimitz UFO Incident: In 2004, what physics-defying flight capabilities were exhibited by the 'Tic-Tac'-shaped UFO, as described by US Navy pilots (e.g., David Fravor)?

Okay, this is indeed a fascinating topic, and I'll try to explain it in plain language.

The reason the Nimitz incident caused such a stir isn't just because pilots saw something "oddly shaped." The crucial point is that its flight maneuvers completely defied our current understanding of physics. You can imagine it as a player in a video game with "invincibility + teleportation" cheats enabled.

Here are the main points that baffled top pilots at the time and physicists later on:

1. Incredible Instant Acceleration and Deceleration

• What was it like? Pilot David Fravor described the "Tic Tac" as being able to hover in mid-air, then "whoosh," it would instantly vanish from sight. Radar operators also confirmed it could accelerate from hundreds of kilometers per hour to tens of thousands of kilometers per hour in seconds, or instantly "brake" from extreme speeds and hover.
• An easy-to-understand analogy: If you drive a high-performance sports car, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h might take 3 seconds, and you'd feel a strong push into your seat. Now imagine a vehicle that can accelerate from 0 to 2000 km/h in 0.1 seconds, with no sensation for anyone inside, and the vehicle itself remains undamaged. That's what the "Tic Tac" did. According to our physics, such immense acceleration would generate enormous "G-forces" (inertial overload), instantly tearing apart any known aircraft (including its occupants).

2. Right-Angle Turns and "Pinball-like" Movement, Defying Inertia

• What was it like? It didn't turn in a wide arc like an airplane; instead, it made "right-angle" or "sharp-angle" turns at extremely high speeds, like a billiard ball, with no deceleration or curving in between. Fravor described it as bouncing like a "ping-pong ball" between walls.
• An easy-to-understand analogy: When you ride a roller coaster, doesn't your body get violently thrown to one side during turns? That's inertia. To counteract this force, an aircraft must turn with a radius; the faster it flies, the larger the turning radius. The "Tic Tac's" turning method is equivalent to a fighter jet flying at several times the speed of sound suddenly making a 90-degree turn, and doing so instantaneously. Such maneuvers would generate G-forces in the thousands, enough to disintegrate any material. It seemed to... have no inertia.

3. "Stealth-like" Supersonic Flight

• What was it like? We know that once an object exceeds the speed of sound (approximately 1200 km/h), it compresses air to form a shockwave, producing a massive "sonic boom." However, when the "Tic Tac" flew at speeds far exceeding the speed of sound, neither ground nor airborne personnel heard any sonic boom. Furthermore, it had no wings, no visible propulsion (like jet nozzles or propellers), and emitted no heat signature (undetectable by infrared).
• An easy-to-understand analogy: This is like a speedboat moving at high speed on water, but the water surface remains completely undisturbed. Or a jet flying in the sky, but you hear no engine roar and see no hot exhaust plumes from its rear. It defied the fundamental rule of "action and reaction," leaving us completely unable to understand its propulsion source.

4. Eerie "Precognitive" Ability

• What was it like? This was the most bizarre aspect. When Fravor's fighter jet attempted to approach it, it instantly vanished. Less than a minute later, radar from another naval vessel reported the object appearing 60 miles (approximately 96 kilometers) away, precisely at the secret rendezvous point (CAP point) for Fravor's flight group.
• An easy-to-understand analogy: Imagine playing hide-and-seek with a friend in Beijing. You've just decided to hide at a specific address in Shanghai, and then your friend calls you from that very address, saying, "I'm here, come join me." This "Tic Tac" not only moved at unimaginable speeds (96 kilometers in one minute) but also seemed to know the pilots' destination in advance. This goes beyond the scope of a mere "aircraft" and feels more like a scene from a sci-fi movie.

To summarize:

The capabilities demonstrated by this "Tic Tac" aren't just about being "a bit faster" or "a bit more agile" than our aircraft. Fundamentally, it defied several cornerstones of our physical understanding: inertia, Newton's Third Law (action and reaction), and aerodynamics. It didn't seem to move by "pushing against" air or fuel; it was more like it was "manipulating" the spacetime around itself.

Therefore, when people discuss the Nimitz incident, the focus is on these inexplicable flight data points, recorded by multiple highly trained observers and precise equipment. It presented us with a method of physical realization that is completely beyond our current technological understanding.