Ryan Graves and Americans for Safe Aerospace: The Pilot Who Challenged the UAP Stigma

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Most UAP witnesses describe a single encounter. Ryan Graves describes two years of daily sightings. As an F/A-18F pilot in the U.S. Navy, he and his squadron observed unidentified objects on their sensors during training missions off the East Coast every day for approximately two years. When the military failed to create a safe reporting channel, he built one himself.

TL;DR: Ryan Graves spent over a decade as an F/A-18F pilot in the U.S. Navy. During training missions off the East Coast between 2014 and 2015, his squadron observed unidentified objects on their sensors every day for approximately two years. He described the objects as dark gray cubes inside clear spheres. In 2021, Graves founded Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA), a nonprofit that advocates for pilot safety and UAP transparency. ASA has been contacted by over 1,000 military and commercial pilots who have witnessed UAP. Graves testified before Congress in July 2023, becoming the first active-duty pilot to publicly address UAP as an aviation safety issue. Sources linked below.

Timeline

2009-2019 Ryan Graves serves as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, flying F/A-18F Super Hornets. He is assigned to carrier-based squadrons and accumulates thousands of flight hours.

2014-2015 While stationed with VFA-11 (Red Rippers) aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Graves and his squadron begin encountering unidentified objects on their radar and sensor systems during training missions off the U.S. East Coast. The objects appear as dark gray or black cubes inside transparent spheres, approximately 5 to 15 feet in diameter, observed at altitudes between 10,000 and 30,000 feet. Graves later states the encounters occurred “every day for a couple of years.”

2018 Graves begins speaking publicly about his experiences, becoming one of the first active-duty military pilots to discuss UAP encounters openly. He collaborates with researchers to document the encounters and advocate for formal reporting mechanisms.

2021 Graves founds Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization described as the first military pilot-led nonprofit dedicated to UAP as a matter of national security, aerospace safety, and scientific investigation. The organization’s mission centers on reducing the stigma of UAP reporting and creating safe channels for witnesses.

July 26, 2023 Graves testifies before the House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, as part of the congressional UAP hearing alongside David Grusch and David Fravor. Graves focuses his testimony on aviation safety and the failure of existing reporting mechanisms to capture UAP encounters. He tells the committee that UAP encounters during training were “not rare or isolated” and that the lack of a standardized, non-punitive reporting system left pilots and the public at risk.

November 2023 Graves appears on Tennessee Talks with Rep. Tim Burchett to discuss his experiences and the work ASA is doing to address the UAP reporting gap.

2024-2025 ASA grows to have been contacted by over 1,000 military and commercial pilots who have reported UAP encounters. The organization continues advocating for FAA policy changes, Congressional oversight, and reduced stigma in pilot reporting. Graves also serves in a leadership role with the AIAA UAP Integration and Outreach Committee.

2026 ASA submits testimony to Connecticut state legislators supporting a study of UAP. Graves continues to advocate for policy changes that would allow civilian pilots to report UAP encounters directly to the FAA.

What Graves Saw

Graves’ firsthand experience forms the foundation of his advocacy. Between 2014 and 2015, while flying training missions from the USS Theodore Roosevelt off the East Coast, his squadron encountered unidentified objects on their sensors with unusual regularity.

The objects appeared as dark gray cubes inside transparent spheres, approximately 5 to 15 feet in diameter, flying at altitudes between 10,000 and 30,000 feet. They were detected on radar and observed visually by pilots. The objects did not match any known aircraft, weather phenomenon, or sensor malfunction profile.

Graves has emphasized that his focus is not on what the objects are but on the safety risk they represent. “If UAP are foreign drones, it is an urgent national security problem,” he testified to Congress. “If it is something else, it is an issue for science. In either case, it is a concern for safety of flight.”

He has also described the institutional response to pilot reports. During his service, there was no formal, non-punitive mechanism for reporting UAP encounters. Pilots who reported sightings risked professional stigma, career damage, and being labeled unreliable. This gap in reporting is what drove Graves to found ASA.

Ryan Graves and Americans for Safe Aerospace

ASA was founded in 2021 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is described as the first military pilot-led nonprofit dedicated to UAP as a matter of national security, aerospace safety, and scientific investigation.

The organization’s work focuses on three areas:

Reducing stigma. ASA works to normalize UAP reporting among military and commercial pilots. The organization has been contacted by over 1,000 pilots who have experienced or witnessed UAP, many of whom had never reported their encounters through official channels due to fear of professional consequences.

Policy advocacy. ASA advocates for changes to FAA reporting policy that would create safe, standardized channels for pilot UAP reports. Current FAA regulations direct pilots to make UAP reports to civilian organizations, which Graves has argued is inadequate. The organization has supported legislative proposals and submitted testimony to state and federal bodies.

Research and documentation. ASA collects and documents pilot encounters with UAP, building a database of cases that can inform both aviation safety policy and scientific research. The organization collaborates with researchers and Congressional offices to ensure pilot testimony informs policy decisions.

ASA is volunteer-driven and funded through donations. Graves has maintained the organization while also serving as a public advocate for UAP transparency, appearing at Congressional hearings, media events, and policy discussions.

The Reporting Gap

One of the central issues Graves raises is the gap between UAP encounters and UAP reporting. The problem has several dimensions:

No FAA channel. Current FAA regulations direct pilots to report UAP to civilian organizations such as the National UFO Reporting Center, not to the FAA itself. This means UAP encounters near commercial airspace are not captured by the aviation safety system that tracks bird strikes, near-misses, and other hazards.

Military stigma. During Graves’ service, there was no formal reporting mechanism within the Navy for UAP encounters. Pilots who reported sightings risked being seen as unreliable or mentally unfit. The Pentagon’s UAP investigation office has since established reporting channels, but the stigma persists.

Civilian pilot exclusion. In January 2024, a bill was proposed to allow civilian pilots to report UAP encounters directly to the FAA. As of March 2026, this legislation has not been enacted. Civilian pilots remain excluded from official UAP reporting channels.

Graves has argued that this reporting gap is itself a safety risk. If UAP encounters near commercial airspace are not tracked through the same system that tracks other aviation hazards, the aviation safety system has a blind spot.

Opposing Perspectives

The case for concern: Graves’ testimony is credible because he focuses on aviation safety rather than extraterrestrial claims. He does not assert that the objects he encountered are alien. He asserts that they are unidentified, that they appear near military training airspace, and that there is no safe mechanism to report them. This framing resonates with aviation safety professionals who see UAP as a data gap rather than a paranormal phenomenon. The 1,000+ pilots who have contacted ASA suggest the reporting gap is real and significant.

The skeptical case: Critics note that “unidentified” does not mean “unexplainable.” The objects Graves describes could be drones, balloons, sensor artifacts, or other conventional objects. The fact that they were observed “every day for two years” could reflect the high sensitivity of modern radar systems detecting small objects that were always present but previously undetected. Without sensor data, photographic evidence, or physical samples, the objects remain unidentified in the most literal sense.

The middle ground: Regardless of what the objects are, the reporting gap is a verifiable problem. If pilots cannot safely report objects in their airspace, the aviation safety system has a weakness. This is true whether the objects are drones, weather balloons, or something unknown. Graves’ advocacy for standardized reporting channels addresses a concrete policy problem that does not depend on resolving the nature of UAP.

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