the water. got it! whoo-hoo! wow. what the is that thing. it s flying. reporter: now the pilots are talking to the new york times and a mini series for the history channel. unidentified, inside america s ufo investigation. reporter: the pilots are identified. this is f-18 fighter pilot danny la coyne. it seems they were aware of our presence, because they would actively move around us. reporter: one pilot told the new york times of another pilot looking shocked, telling him, i almost hit one of those things, it flew right past the cockpit looking like a sphere encasing a cube. back in 2004 off the west coast of san diego, a fighter pilot captured a white oval-shaped object on his sensors. watch it accelerate and depart screen left at high velocity. they call this one the tic tac