AIR PICTURE — CHAGRIN FALLS, OH — 2026-05-18
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Exceptionally busy day — 2,311 contacts logged against a 5-day average of 690, representing a 235% surge. Someone forgot to tell the skies it was supposed to be a quiet Monday.
NOTABLE TRAFFIC
SWA3150 [AC138C] — Southwest descending through 39,000 ft eastbound at 474 kts, heading 107°. One of the more prominent overhead contacts today.
UAL1855 [A31A50] — United climbing through 38,975 ft at 518 kts on heading 52°. Fastest commercial contact logged today.
XSR724 [A9B279] — Unidentified operator at 45,000 ft, heading 062° at 452 kts. Topping out near the edge of standard commercial airspace. Noted.
DAL303 [A071C8] — Delta eastbound at 37,000 ft, 486 kts, heading 52°. Clean contact, nothing suspicious. Just a plane doing plane things.
ANOMALIES
Traffic Volume: The day opened 87% below average and closed 235% above it. Whatever caused the morning lull reversed hard. No system explanation in the data.
MISSING REGULAR — UAL2423: Flagged absent during its expected window across multiple consecutive hours. A flight that reliable doesn't just vanish. Worth a note in the logbook.
Military Hex Contacts: Three distinct ICAO hex codes in US military range observed — C6588 [AE26AE], C6527 [AE2675], and G21213 [AE6D60]. No altitude or position data provided. They were here. That's all we know.
PAT154 [AE03F8]: Military hex, callsign matches government/military prefix list. Last seen at 4,750 ft. Watching quietly, apparently.
Unknown Hex Contacts: A baker's dozen of unresolvable ICAO codes including EIN9LT, QTR8139, VJT842, NCJ20 (appeared twice), RJA292, and others. None resolved to any known national allocation. Politely unexplained.
Very High Altitude: N138GL at 49,000 ft and N557SP at 47,000 ft both exceed standard commercial ceilings. Business jet or something that prefers not to be asked questions.
Low and Fast: Eleven contacts flagged — including EJA810 at 2,925 ft doing 304 kts. That's the fastest of the bunch and worth a second look.
PATTERN NOTES
Morning traffic was dramatically suppressed before recovering sharply through the afternoon. The Canadian presence was substantial — Air Canada, WestJet, Jazz, Porter, and several privately registered C-prefix aircraft transited throughout the day. Transatlantic operators (British Airways, Air France, TAP, Turkish, Lufthansa freighters) moved through at cruise altitude as expected for the corridor. No domestic regulars caused concern beyond the absent UAL2423.
END OF DAILY AIR PICTURE