Tic Tac Kinematics: Visualisation · Signals from the Periphery

Scenario

0.78 s

Drop from

28,000 ft

0.78 s

Implied peak

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NIMITZ CSG-11 · "TIC TAC"
~100 mi SW of San Diego
10-14 Nov 2004 · reported, argued since
SPY-1B radar · FLIR1 video · 4 aviators
object ~40 ft · white · no wings, no exhaust
no Navy radar data has ever been released

Feature

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Evidence

fact ⇄ what kind of claim · live

Radar tracks over ~2 weeks, multiple crews

Nov 2004 · Princeton, Nimitz, aircrews agree

REPORTED

The FLIR1 video exists; Navy calls it UAP

released 2017, confirmed 2019-20 · meaning: contested

MEASURED

28,000 ft to the sea in 0.78 s

one operator's recollection · no tapes released

REPORTED

Everything on this panel follows from h and t

a = 4h/t² · school kinematics, exactly computed

MODELLED

SCU's ~5,370 g estimate for that drop

2019 forensic paper · from the reported inputs

MODELLED

9 g pilots · 46.2 g Stapp · 15,500 g shells

the measured ladder the claim is placed against

MEASURED

What it was: craft, artefact, error, or unknown

both directions argued in print · nothing settled

READING

View

Scenario · whose numbers

REPORTED · one operator's radar recollection

playback fit to ~6 s · the physics readouts never depend on playback speed

The claim, as numbers

Start altitude h28,000 ft

where the drop begins. 28,000 ft is the altitude in Kevin Day's account; 80,000 ft is where the objects reportedly first appeared.

Descent time t0.78 s

the whole controversy lives on this slider. 0.78 s is the reported figure; 120 s is a dive any fighter could fly. Log scale.

Object mass m1.0 t

nobody knows; ~1 t suits a 40 ft object of aircraft build. Mass scales the energy bill only, never the g.

Motion profile · the honest assumption

Witnesses describe the object stopping and hovering just above the sea, so the honest profile accelerates down for half the drop and brakes for the other half: peak acceleration a = 4h/t², peak speed 2h/t at the midpoint.

The scope · display physics

Display update interval1.00 s

a SPY-1 console refreshes each track at discrete intervals, and nothing between two updates exists on screen. The claimed 0.78 s fits inside one. Open the Scope view and change this.

Ghost tracks

the Princeton's combat system had reportedly just been upgraded, and radar suites in that state can emit tracks with nothing behind them. On the scope they look exactly like the real thing.

Playback

Overlays

Air-interaction glow

Auto-replay

Readout · exact from h, t, m

Implied peak accel

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Peak speed

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Kinetic energy

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Drag power at peak

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Stagnation temp

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A human aboard

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What is reported vs measured here

Reported: the two weeks of tracks, the 28,000 ft, the 0.78 s, the whitewater, the 60-mile reappearance: testimony and recollection, with no Navy radar data released. Measured: the FLIR1 video's existence, and every rung of the comparison ladder (9 g, 46.2 g, 15,500 g). Modelled: every number this panel computes: exact kinematics applied to reported inputs. Reading: what it was. This instrument takes no side.

Where this drawing takes liberties

The capsule is drawn roughly 40× too large (a true-scale 12 m object would be invisible next to an 8.5 km drop), the clear November midday is rendered as a calm, hazy fair-weather sea, the ship sits far closer than the real Princeton did, the whitewater is a cartoon, and the departure sprint compresses the reported sixty miles into a few seconds toward the horizon. The kinematics is not stylized: position, speed and acceleration follow the equations on the panel exactly, and every readout is computed, not staged.

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drag = orbit · scroll = zoom · click a label to inspect · dial the drop with the sliders