It's also said in the JRE video, Fravor isn't the only military pilot to have done that stunt, and likely won't be the last. When pilots perform such flights, they aren't taking those jets out with the intention of performing a 'hoax'. They're going out on a normal night time low level qualification mission, where the parameters of the mission are to fly with lights off, at low level, along some routing, in a military range closed to other aviation traffic. Eventually, they have to climb up to elevation, and return to base, and there is some leeway in how that last part gets done, and they have chosen to do it close to campfires or other lights they see in their NVGs, while lighting the afterburner. Fravor also says in the JRE episode that they flew a lot of those missions, suggesting that there is a level of boredom and complacency. He also says that it was a restricted bombing range, so the campfires he sees are likely people who are tresspassing/sneaking into the range often with the intention of spotting/photographing fighter jets, so he wants to give them a bit of a show, also to let the campers know that the pilot know that they're there.

Fighter pilot culture wouldn't see such pranks as that big of a deal. That's why when people like Burke talk about Fravor they only see the decades of service to his country, about his conduct while commanding a fighter squadron, of leading other pilots into combat, or being a naval aviator. A simple prank at the end of a training mission that fighter pilots anywhere would chuckle over at the O'club doesn't rise to the level of needing to be mentioned, and wouldn't even stand out as being remarkable enough to even be remembered.

I also think when Burke is talking about a 'UFO Hoax', I think he is trying to say that he doesn't see Fravor perpetrating a false sighting, and then doing interview after interview about the Nimitz encounter and basically straight up lying with the intention of decieving the public. As I said above, the simple prank of lighting after burners over campfires over people likely trespassing on a restricted bombing range and along frequently used military training routes wouldn't rise to the level of being remarkable enough to be considered a 'hoax' in the eyes of a fellow fighter pilot. That is why Fravor doesn't bat an eye about telling the story, and that is why Burke doesn't mention it when discussing Fravors character or credibility. Also note that in Fravors campfire story, there is no lie, there is no deceit, there is no conspiracy and ongoing narrative to convince the public otherwise. To fighter pilots it's just a prank. Go to an airshow and you'll see the Blue Angles do basically the same thing. One fighter sneaks off low, and while the rest are doing acrobatics above, that one fighter comes in low over the crowd from out of sight and scares the daylights out of everyone. Fighter pilots love that stuff.

But, I take your point. I agree it doesn't help his credibility.

So, the sinister, diabolical, and self-admitted hoaxer Fravor, whos character has been compared to a sleezy used-car salesman online, somehow manages to get 60 nautical miles off the aircraft carrier during a training deployment without being spotted, deploy a drone/balloon, somehow gets back to the carrier in time to go on his training mission, spots his decoy, manages to convince another pilot that it's something strange, strange enough that they convince another pair of aircraft to go out and identify Fravors drone, and they manages to get it on their targetting pod... and then, in his vile deceitfulness, Fravor then does.... nothing, and basically tells no one.

That is until 13 years later, when the singer of Blink-182 goes on a fishing expedition with freedom of information requests, and somehow a short video segment of Fravors heinous hoax come to light.

The whole episode is bizare.