Ryan Graves

Former Navy F/A-18 pilot who testified in 2023 to routine UAP encounters off Virginia Beach and now runs the pilot-reporting nonprofit Americans for Safe Aerospace.

Current role: Founder and Executive Director, Americans for Safe Aerospace; former U.S. Navy F/A-18F pilot

Former roles:

Chair, UAP Integration & Outreach Committee, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (as of 2023)
F/A-18F pilot, VFA-11, U.S. Navy (joined 2009; deployments in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve)

Background

Ryan Graves is a former U.S. Navy F/A-18F pilot with more than a decade of service, including deployments in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Inherent Resolve. From 2014 his squadron, VFA-11, began detecting unknown objects off Virginia Beach after a radar upgrade, and he has since become the most prominent military pilot speaking publicly about UAP as an aviation-safety issue. He founded Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA), a nonprofit that takes reports from military and commercial aircrew, and testified under oath to the House Oversight subcommittee on 26 July 2023. As of October 2026 ASA's site lists him as Founder and Executive Director and shows continuing activity, including a public report library and commentary on the 2026 PURSUE releases.

On the record

2026-06-30 – Pennsylvania House Communications & Technology Committee, informational meeting "Is There Life Beyond Earth?" – appeared as founder and executive director of ASA on aerospace and aviation perspectives, alongside Penn State astronomer Jason Wright and Christopher Mellon. Written testimony is on the committee archive. Testimony PDF · Coverage
2026-05-14 – to DefenseScoop, on the first PURSUE file release – "The goal should be a durable, credible reporting and analysis process, not just periodic releases of low-context files." and "The real value is in records that include clear provenance, sensor context, metadata, chain of custody, date and location, and enough operational context to allow serious independent analysis." DefenseScoop
2025-08-07 – public remarks (clip) – said ASA would begin publishing the pilot reports it had gathered: "My organization is going to start publishing the reports that we've gathered. [...] Metallic spheres about 10ft of diameter or so is very commonly reported...another trend is black triangles." Clip
2023-07-26 – House Oversight subcommittee, under oath – "I can tell you that advanced UAP are a national security and an aviation safety problem." Said UAP in US airspace "are grossly underreported", that "The stigma attached to UAP is real and powerful and challenges national security", and that "The government knows more about UAP than shared publicly, and excessive classification practices keep crucial information hidden." Described a 2014 near-miss in Warning Area W-72 in which a pilot saw "a dark gray cube inside of a clear sphere — motionless against the wind, fixed directly at the entry point", and said ASA then had nearly 5,000 members and was working with more than 30 witnesses. Statement PDF · Video
2023-08-17 – Capitol Hill event with members of Congress – spoke on pilot reporting and stigma. Segment
2021-05-16 – CBS 60 Minutes – appeared as a former Navy pilot describing the East Coast encounters. CBS News

Timeline of involvement

2014 – VFA-11 begins tracking unknown objects off Virginia Beach after a radar upgrade (per his 2023 testimony)
2021-05-16 – appears in the 60 Minutes UAP segment
2023-07-26 – testifies under oath to the House Oversight subcommittee alongside David Grusch and David Fravor
2023-08-17 – speaks at a Capitol Hill UAP event
2025-08-07 – announces ASA will publish de-identified pilot reports
2026-05-14 – responds to the first PURSUE release, calling for provenance and metadata
2026-06-30 – testifies at the Pennsylvania House Communications & Technology Committee
2026-10 – ASA site shows ongoing activity (report library, podcast, AirVenture 2026 presence) (ASA)

Relevant links

Part of the Key People in Disclosure series. Verified 2026-10-10. Spotted an error? Reach out.