Ok, so no military aircraft that I can currently see over the US. (overnight avg. at a single point in time seem to regularly be >100. Thought: dang that’s a lot of fuel!)

I know this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this since I started planefaglarping a week or so ago, but who can answer:

• why would they all turn off their transponders and/or block their locations from view for a period of time?

• would this be coordinated through instructions to each individual aircraft, or can this be done system-wide? (I’d hate to be the one pilot showing up when everyone was supposed to be dark. Awk-ward!)

• over a longer period of history, is this a regular/common occurrence?

• am I planefagging wrong?