AIR PICTURE — CHAGRIN FALLS, OH — 2026-08-23
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Unusually quiet day over the Falls — traffic running 77% below the 7-day average, with the skies more empty than full, though what showed up kept things interesting.
NOTABLE TRAFFIC
QFA4 [7C8066] — Qantas heavy, 34,000 ft, heading 235°. The Australians are back. ICAO hex falls outside any recognized national allocation range, which is either a data quirk or something for the Commonwealth to explain.
WJA2857 [C03487] / ROU1661 [C05BC8] / CJT942 [C06C9C] — Three Canadian-registered aircraft transited the area, all at cruise altitude. Normal enough; noted per standing foreign registration protocol.
DHK392 [407DBF] — UK-registered DHL freighter, 34,000 ft, southwestbound at 482 kts. The British are delivering something to someone.
SWA4767 [AC2F37] — Southwest at 1,075 ft, heading 230°. Low, slow by Southwest standards, and presumably grateful for it.
PDT5952 / DAL1320 / UAL1951 — Multiple regional contacts working low altitudes in the Cleveland approach corridor. Routine terminal traffic.
ANOMALIES
Ten contacts transmitting no callsign at altitude — Hexes A3897F, AE144C, AA477B, AC987B, A13651, A55F6C, A437B5, A7CC00, A04A49, AB8880, A5ADD3, A2B10F, and A3DF50 are flying at cruise and intermediate altitudes with Mode S active but zero flight ID broadcast. One of these — AE144C — falls squarely within the US military hex allocation range. No callsign. No position data in the raw feed. Acknowledged and logged with appropriate eyebrow raised.
VTM220 [0D0F58] — Unknown hex allocation, 33,150 ft, heading 60° at 490 kts. No recognized national registration. Noted.
[AD7DA2] — No callsign, no altitude, no position. It exists only as a hex code. A philosophical exercise in minimum data.
PATTERN NOTES
Today's count of 108 is a significant departure from the 468-aircraft daily average. Missing regulars include DAL845, DAL751, UAL1969, AAL471, JBU2041, RPA3567, UAL2188, and others — a roster of absent friends. No single cause is identifiable from this data alone. Traffic that did appear followed expected east-west trunk routing at FL350–370, with regional feeders working lower altitudes around the Cleveland envelope.
END OF DAILY AIR PICTURE