JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Navy pilots said they believe they spotted a UFO just off the coast in Jacksonville.
Matthew Spanopoulos said some things you see you never forget, especially the night he believes he saw a UFO four years ago.
"I remember just the really panicked, the fear that you always think about in your dreams where it just paralyzed you," Spanopoulos said. "That's kind of what I felt mixed with excitement, because when you see something like that, there's definitely mixed emotions running through you. For a second, it's kind of like, 'Whoa, am I really seeing this?'"
It's a secret he and his friends kept for a long time, but he kept a picture and video.
"I'm thinking I don't want to be that guy being looked at as seeing the UFO. I didn't get abducted, nothing probed, I just wanted to put out there what I saw because I saw it with my own two eyes, and I'm a very sane person," Spanopoulos said.
The 2015 video was recently released. A veteran Navy pilot can be heard describing an object outside his cockpit window while on a military training mission off the coast of Jacksonville.
It's the first glimpse of the mission after the program that allowed this mission was defunded and declassified. They believe it was a UFO.
News4Jax aviation expert Ed Booth said Navy pilots are highly trained to report these sightings and it's something that's been experienced throughout more than 100 years of aviation history.
"What this object is that shows up in this video remains to be seen," Booth said. "It's very interesting. It's certainly moving in ways atmospheric aircrafts are not capable in moving."
The object is still a mystery, but at least people are able to discuss it.
"I'm expecting that a lot of us now are going to stand firm and say what we saw," Spanopoulos said.
Booth said he believes the image seen in the video is just a sensor but seeing a picture or wreckage will offer more evidence about what the pilots saw.