Patrick Hughes

Patrick 'PJ' Hughes is a U.S. Navy veteran who served as an aviation technician (Petty Officer) aboard the USS Nimitz during the 2004 Nimitz UFO encounters off Southern California. In November 2004, as part of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group training exercises, Hughes secured 'data bricks'—hard drive recorders from the E-2 Hawkeye airborne early-warning aircraft involved in tracking the Tic Tac UFO. Shortly after, his commanding officer and two unidentified officials (likely Navy and USAF) arrived unannounced to confiscate these classified tapes containing flight data potentially related to the anomalous objects. Hughes provided key eyewitness testimony in interviews, detailing the rapid retrieval and its implications for government handling of UAP data. No birth/death years or publications are documented; his account contributes significantly to public understanding of the incident.