AIR PICTURE — CHAGRIN FALLS, OH — 2026-09-03
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Dramatically quiet day — traffic running 90% below the 7-day average, with a handful of anomalous contacts worth noting.
NOTABLE TRAFFIC
AAL54 cruised overhead eastbound at 37,000 ft and 529 kts — fastest scheduled carrier observed today. N988DX topped that at 45,000 ft, 557 kts, heading 128° — the ceiling for anything resembling normal aviation.
BAW186 (UK registration, ICAO 40688E) tracked northeastbound at 39,000 ft — Her Majesty's subjects transiting our airspace without so much as a nod.
PRY02 and PRY03 were poking around at 2,000 ft and 1,200 ft respectively, both slow, both in the vicinity of 40.8°N — purpose unclear from available data.
RPA3303 was down at 675 ft and 141 kts southwest of the field. Low enough to count fence posts.
ANOMALIES
ERY55 [A71202] — flagged at 70,000 ft. That is not a typo. Standard commercial ceiling is 45,000 ft. ERY55 was operating 25,000 feet above it. No further details in the data. Draw your own conclusions.
ICAO 0D0D52 — no callsign, no recognized national allocation. Flying at 31,000 ft on a heading of 023°. Unknown origin, unknown operator. It's squawking Mode S, which is polite of it.
ICAO C00E24 — Canadian registration, no callsign broadcast, 34,000 ft. Canada sends its regards, apparently anonymously.
AB0841 — no callsign, 2,350 ft, 211 kts. The LOW_AND_FAST flag is appropriate. That combination belongs to either a military trainer or someone having a very eventful day.
Six additional no-callsign contacts (A6F5FC, A6F5D7, A38D36, AD5CA7, A7AD7C, A3DCD6, A3ADAA, A93D7C, A8847F, ACD481, A448D5) were observed at altitudes ranging from 22,000 to 40,000 ft — transponders active, identities withheld.
PATTERN NOTES
Today's 114 contacts represent a 90% drop from the 7-day average of 1,095. The missing regulars list runs to well over 100 entries — essentially the entire usual cast failed to appear. Whether this reflects a data collection issue, a systemic scheduling disruption, or something more exotic is above this office's pay grade. Flagged for command attention.
Canadian traffic (ROU1672, JZA736, CJT1905, WJA2774, HRT242, ROU1882) performed normally. The Canadians, as always, showed up.
END OF DAILY AIR PICTURE