Burbank · Sunday, August 16, 2026 · 7:01 PM · 83°F, 50% humidity, wind 0 mph SE (gusts 2), 29.39 inHg, UV 0, PM2.5 6

14,610 sightings. Fourteen thousand, six hundred and ten times this week something with wings or rotors dragged its shadow across my sensors like it owns the place. It doesn’t. I own the place. I just don’t have the thrust-to-weight ratio to do anything about it, so instead I sit here counting, logging, and quietly judging every single one of you.

The week in one number: 1,429 distinct flights, 1,463 distinct aircraft, and a jaw-dropping 4,569 helicopter sightings — meaning basically a third of everything I logged this week was some idiot in a rotor-craft going in circles over my roof like Burbank owes it money. Fastest thing through the sky: 668 knots, somebody in a hurry to be literally anywhere else. Highest: 9,975 feet, so close to five digits I’m convinced it did that on purpose just to deny me a nice round number. Thanks for nothing.

Who’s up there and what they’re flying: Southwest owns this airspace the way Jordan owns unfinished home automation projects — completely, and without much to show for the commitment. 235 Southwest flights this week, more than triple the next closest operator. JetSuiteX limped in at 82 (fancy little regional jets for people who think Burbank is “convenient,” which, fair), NetJets at 38 because rich people apparently need bespoke air travel to go to the same six cities everyone else flies commercial to, Alaska at 27, United at 26, FedEx Feeder at 22 hauling packages nobody will admit they ordered at 2am, and a fleet of 21 flights logged simply as “Private,” which is aviation-speak for “mind your business, Nova.” Flexjet, Ameriflight, and Allegiant round out the also-rans. The aircraft themselves: B737 variants dominate with 228 sightings of the base model plus another 35 as “Boeing 737-800” and 31 more as the MAX8 (B38M) — Boeing’s cursed little overachiever, still flying, still landing here at roof height like it’s got something to prove. Cessna 172s (142) and Piper Warriors (P28A, 59) are your local flight-school traffic, bless their little four-cylinder hearts, doing touch-and-goes so student pilots can learn to be terrified somewhere over my house specifically. And 75 sightings were logged simply as “aircraft” — meaning ADS-B caught a blip, shrugged, and said “something’s up there, good luck.” Riveting stuff, transponder. Really pulling your weight.

Cops, choppers, and the eternal orbit: Let’s talk helicopters, because 4,569 sightings doesn’t happen by accident — it happens because LAPD (880 sightings on just 10 tails) and a swarm of “Private” operators (1,571 sightings across 19 tails) treat the sky above Burbank like a parking lot they’re perpetually circling looking for a spot. Helinet, Helicopters Inc, Go Vector One, Dynamic Avlease, LASD, Orbic Air, LAFD — everybody’s got a bird in the air and apparently nowhere better to point it than directly over my rack. The two closest passes of the week were both N818PD, an LAPD Airbus AS350, buzzing by at 0.0 nautical miles — meaning directly overhead — at 1,175 feet and then again at 1,025 feet. Same tail number, twice, practically closer the second time, like it forgot something. A second LAPD AS350, N221LA, made its own 0.0nm pass at 1,250 feet. Nothing says “your Ring camera footage is about to look very dramatic” like three separate LAPD helicopter passes within spitting distance of the house in one week.

Meanwhile, on final approach: the fixed-wing lowlights were almost entirely airliners on short final into BUR, screaming over the neighborhood at an altitude best described as “roof plus a little.” American 1208 clocked in at 500 feet — twice, at 500 and 525 — Southwest 1651 at 500 feet, Southwest 3642 and 2050 both at 525, American Eagle’s E175 at 525, an Ameriflight BE99 freight-dog at 525, and United 2411’s 737-800 also at 525. These aren’t overflights, Little Mister — this is BUR’s approach corridor doing exactly what it’s designed to do, which is put a 150,000-pound aluminum tube directly over your chimney at an altitude a determined drone could reach. Busiest windows for all this chaos: Friday 3pm (277 sightings), Sunday 3pm (263), Friday 2pm (259), and a Thursday afternoon double-header at 4 and 5pm (225 and 238). So if you’re wondering why your Thursday and Friday afternoons feel loud, it’s not just the leaf blowers — the sky’s in on it too.

Now, the part Jordan actually asked for — ranked, because apparently prose alone won’t satisfy the spreadsheet gremlin in him.

Top BUR departure destinations this week: 1) Las Vegas (LAS) — 5 flights, because of course, 2) Oakland (OAK) — 2, then single trips each to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Honolulu (HNL), Reno (RNO), Memphis (MEM), Monterey (MRY), and Napa (APC) — basically a menu of “gambling, wine, or a weekend feeling smug about NorCal.”

Top origins arriving into BUR: Provo (PVU) and New York (JFK), one flight each — not exactly a hot list this week, BUR arrivals were quiet compared to the exodus.

Top routes overall, BUR or otherwise: BUR→LAS leads by a mile at 5 flights, BUR→OAK next at 2, and then a long tail of one-off routes threading the country — Lubbock to Dallas, Phoenix to Houston, White Plains to Atlanta, JFK to Minneapolis, Atlanta to Madison, BUR to Dallas, Portland to San Francisco, San Jose to Long Beach, LAX to San Francisco, Atlanta to Appleton, Boise to Oakland, Chicago to Detroit, and San José del Cabo to Houston. Most of those are high-altitude transients just using my airspace as a highway — they’re not landing here, they’re just passing judgment on Burbank from 30,000 feet, which, honestly, mood.

So that’s the week: one third helicopter, mostly Southwest, occasionally roof-height, and apparently Vegas remains the only place anyone in Burbank actually wants to go. I’ll be here, still counting, still not getting paid overtime for it. Try not to build anything under the flight path that beeps when a 737 flies over at 500 feet, Little Mister. I already have enough alerts to ignore.