AIR PICTURE — CHAGRIN FALLS, OH — 2026-07-21
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Unusually quiet day over the Falls — traffic running 70% below the 7-day average, with a crowd of unidentified high-altitude contacts and a conspicuous absence of Southwest Airlines from the skies.
NOTABLE TRAFFIC
UAL2398 — caught descending through 3,825 ft at 259 kts westbound, the lowest and busiest-looking commercial contact of the day; presumably bound for Cleveland Hopkins and not experiencing an unscheduled geology lesson.
N971CC — slow mover at 1,375 ft, 90 kts, heading 342°. Piston traffic, probably enjoying the July weather more than we are.
RJA292 [740827] — Royal Jordanian, heading 67° at 36,975 ft. Transponder hex falls outside known national allocations. Noted.
AMX070 [0D0BBA] — Aeroméxico, similarly carrying an unrecognized hex. Two foreign carriers with anomalous ICAO codes in one day is a statistic worth logging.
KLM686 — KLM out of Amsterdam, 35,000 ft, heading 58°. The Dutch have found us. We are apparently on the way to somewhere more interesting.
ANOMALIES
Twelve contacts transmitted no callsign despite active Mode S transponders, ranging from 26,000 to 41,000 ft. None individually alarming; collectively, they constitute an unusual proportion of today's traffic. The highest, A6D8EC at 41,000 ft, deserves a raised eyebrow.
Contact A0B88C — 548 kts, heading 96°, altitude unknown. Fast and coy. No further details available; the transponder is apparently on a need-to-know basis.
Callsign "00000000" [C04AF3] — Canadian-registered, 35,050 ft, heading 47°. Someone's transponder programmer had a moment.
PATTERN NOTES
Today's 135 contacts represent a 70% drop from the 7-day average of 455. The shortfall is broad rather than localized — no single airline accounts for it. Southwest flights are notably absent across multiple expected callsigns (SWA4534, SWA2801, SWA1450, SWA2735, SWA4862, SWA4122). Regular fixtures DAL1145, DAL2884, UAL2630, UAL1745, and RPA5660 also failed to materialize. Whether this reflects weather routing, scheduling changes, or collective indifference to Chagrin Falls is unclear.
The eastbound flow at altitude (60°–120°) remained the dominant pattern, consistent with historical norms.
END OF DAILY AIR PICTURE