AIR PICTURE — CHAGRIN FALLS, OH — 2026-10-06
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Dramatically quiet day — traffic running 58% below the 7-day average, with the skies looking more like a Tuesday in February than a Tuesday in October.
NOTABLE TRAFFIC
KOW201 [A19679] — Eastbound at 47,000 ft, 562 kts, heading 75°. Punching above standard commercial ceilings. Consistent with a large business jet or military platform. Someone important, or someone who wants you to think so.
N777ZL [AA8552] — A private registration running eastbound at 39,025 ft and 520 kts. No airline affiliation. Worth a second glance.
EJA113 [A038C7] — NetJets fractional, 45,000 ft, 556 kts eastbound. The upper crust, doing upper crust things at upper crust altitudes.
JZA735 [C00B98] — Air Canada Jazz, inbound at a mere 650 ft and 131 kts, heading 50°. Either on very short final or having a very bad day. Canadian, so probably polite about it either way.
SWA4697 [AC32CF] — Southwest, also at 575 ft, heading 50°. Two aircraft at pattern altitude in the same general corridor at the same time. CLE approach is earning its coffee today.
ANOMALIES
Low-and-fast contacts: Six separate LOW_AND_FAST flags across the day — AAL1230, ERY45, ASA262, N277G, AAL451, and others — all sub-3,000 ft at 220–250 kts. These could be wide approaches, altitude encoder hiccups, or someone with a very aggressive descent profile. None are in the traffic data proper, so no further detail available.
Unknown HEX codes: ITY637, QTR8179, VTM290, VTM289, VTM529, RJA292, QTR51U, and ANA102 all squawking ICAO codes that fall outside recognized national allocations. The VTM series in particular appears to be making a habit of this.
Foreign registrations: Heavy Canadian presence today — Air Canada, Jazz, Cargojet, and various GA. Also noted: two UK-registered aircraft (AZG5789, BAW22E/DHK705), a Netherlands registration (THY182 — callsign Turkish, hex Dutch, make of that what you will), and one Saudi allocation under the KAL093 callsign.
PATTERN NOTES
Traffic is running at 707 total contacts against a 7-day average of 1,667 — a 58% shortfall that was visible and worsening throughout the day. The missing-regulars list is extensive: UAL, DAL, AAL, SWA, and regional feeders all showing significant gaps. No single carrier accounts for the absence; this looks systemic. Possible system-wide ATC flow program, weather upstream, or a very effective airline employees' poker tournament. Cause unknown from this station.
END OF DAILY AIR PICTURE