# The pilot who saw it drink > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The pilot who saw it drink," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-pilot-who-saw-it-drink/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The F-14 pilot John Kiriakou met at his godfather's Alexandria restaurant in the late 1970s, who described following a cigar-shaped object that submerged, stayed under and came back up — and being told by other pilots that they had all seen the same thing.* - **When he places it:** 1977 or 1978 - **Where he heard it:** His godfather's steakhouse in Old Town Alexandria - **The witness:** An F-14 pilot based at Langley - **Shape described:** A cylinder; "like a cigar" - **Behaviour:** Went into the water, stayed, came back up Alongside [his own sighting](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-ufo-sighting), [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) has described a second-hand account he heard as a teenager, in a setting he says brought him into contact with a cross-section of official Washington. ## Where he heard it As a child his family came down to Washington for summer holidays and stayed with relatives. His father's cousin, who was his godfather, owned what he calls a very prominent steakhouse in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia — a place that drew senators, congressmen, bankers and politicians from the city, and which he describes as *"a crossroads for movers and shakers in Washington."*[1] The godfather's son managed the restaurant. A friend of his was there one day when Kiriakou was, and happened to be an F-14 pilot. He places the conversation in 1977 or 1978.[1] ## The story The pilot volunteered the story unprompted. He was based at Langley, and said that all of the pilots there had seen these phenomena, whatever they were. He had seen one himself: he followed it for a while, *"and it went down into the water, it stayed down there for a while and then it came back up."*[2] Asked about the shape, Kiriakou said the pilot described a cylinder — *"like a cigar is what he said."*[3] ## The reaction he described What Kiriakou emphasises is the response the pilot got. He was rattled enough to report it on landing, both to his superiors and to other pilots. The other pilots' answer was *"Oh, I've seen that. I've seen where they go down into the water and come back up."*[4] He filed his flight report, and *"nobody ever bothered to ask him follow-up questions, to question, you know, was that really what you saw or could it have been something else? They just accepted it like, 'Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody sees those.'"*[5] The detail Kiriakou says stayed with him was the pilot's own interpretation: *"it was almost like the thing was drinking. It went down into the water on purpose and stayed down there and then came back up."*[5] ## See also ## See also - [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) - [Kiriakou's UFO sighting](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-ufo-sighting) - [CIA and the UFO question](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-ufo-question) - [The Lake Michigan sightings](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-lake-michigan-sightings) ## Sources 1. Podcast UFO Live Shows (2025-09-12), at 03:39. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMOS09-qx4&t=219s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-12-podcast-ufo-live-shows-podcast-ufo-live-shows/ 2. Podcast UFO Live Shows (2025-09-12), at 04:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMOS09-qx4&t=250s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-12-podcast-ufo-live-shows-podcast-ufo-live-shows/ 3. Podcast UFO Live Shows (2025-09-12), at 05:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMOS09-qx4&t=346s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-12-podcast-ufo-live-shows-podcast-ufo-live-shows/ 4. Podcast UFO Live Shows (2025-09-12), at 04:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMOS09-qx4&t=281s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-12-podcast-ufo-live-shows-podcast-ufo-live-shows/ 5. Podcast UFO Live Shows (2025-09-12), at 05:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMOS09-qx4&t=313s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-09-12-podcast-ufo-live-shows-podcast-ufo-live-shows/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-pilot-who-saw-it-drink/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt