AIR PICTURE — CHAGRIN FALLS, OH — 2026-07-24
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Volume nominally average, but the anomaly log is doing its best to make up for the otherwise routine Friday skies over Northeast Ohio.
NOTABLE TRAFFIC
UAL1776 [37,000 ft, 517 kts, hdg 108°] and AAL1048 [37,000 ft, 479 kts, hdg 67°] represent the bulk of the standard east-bound commercial stream — nothing remarkable, everything on rails.
VJA500 [A63BD4] is threading the overhead at 47,000 ft, well above standard commercial ceilings. Large business jet or something that prefers thin air and fewer questions. Heading 238°, which is at least a polite direction.
FRED52 [AE057A] — the callsign alone earns a mention. Military hex confirmed. Heading 262° at 36,000 ft. Nobody names a military aircraft FRED52 without a reason, and we do not know the reason.
N35182 [1,750 ft, 77 kts, hdg 67°] and N4889D [800 ft, 62 kts] are your local general aviation constituents, puttering along at speeds the rest of the airspace considers a rounding error.
ANOMALIES
VADER91 [AE77A0] — military hex, no altitude in today's data. The name is doing heavy lifting. Noted.
205982 [AE779F] — military hex, appeared twice in the anomaly log. Persistent.
G98797 [AE52A0] — military hex, flagged four separate times. Either very active or the system has developed feelings about it.
Unknown HEX contacts: VTM708, RJA294, QTR51U, CLX23K, VTM392, and ANA102 carry ICAO codes that match no known national allocation. Six unidentified squawkers in one day is above ambient noise. Filed accordingly.
Foreign registrations from Canada (seven), UK (four), France (two), Germany (two), Saudi Arabia, and the Netherlands transited the area — routine for the corridor, noted for completeness.
PATTERN NOTES
Overall count of 703 contacts sits 3% above the 7-day average — unremarkable on volume. However, eleven regular flights are absent: ASA522, SWA4534, SWA1450, SWA4122, RPA5656, RPA5660, RPA3416, RPA4808, DAL2847, DAL845, and SCX1775. RPA5660 was flagged missing four times, which suggests either a cancelled rotation or an overenthusiastic detection loop.
Traffic was predominantly eastbound at cruise altitude, consistent with afternoon departure banks out of the Midwest. Low-altitude contacts were sparse and benign.
END OF DAILY AIR PICTURE