Planes overhead in BS16
South Gloucestershire and City of Bristol, Bristol. All 1,997 of its postcodes measured (40 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
From Bristol
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Bristol flies, and that decides how many pass over BS16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 54% of days
Up to 15
a day
Of its 1,997 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,499
- under 10
- 498
On a day it flies both ways, 21% of days
Up to 13
a day
Of its 1,997 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 787
- under 10
- 1,210
On a day it flies east, 25% of days
Up to 5
a day
Of its 1,997 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,997
Each sector's bar splits its postcodes by how many planes pass over them a day; the figure above it counts those in the busiest band the sector reaches. The list above gives the whole district's counts.
| Sector | Flying west54% of days | Both ways21% of days | Flying east25% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| BS16 1360 postcodes | 311 at 10 to 99 | 148 at 10 to 99 | 360 under 10 |
| BS16 2263 postcodes | 259 at 10 to 99 | 142 at 10 to 99 | 263 under 10 |
| BS16 3196 postcodes | 174 at 10 to 99 | 31 at 10 to 99 | 196 under 10 |
| BS16 4229 postcodes | 229 at 10 to 99 | 182 at 10 to 99 | 229 under 10 |
| BS16 5251 postcodes | 251 at 10 to 99 | 226 at 10 to 99 | 251 under 10 |
| BS16 6260 postcodes | 120 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 | 260 under 10 |
| BS16 7222 postcodes | 33 at 10 to 99 | 222 under 10 | 222 under 10 |
| BS16 9216 postcodes | 122 at 10 to 99 | 55 at 10 to 99 | 216 under 10 |
3 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
What counts as overhead
Overhead means more than halfway up the sky (48.5 degrees or more) and below 7,000 ft, the CAA's definition of an overflight (CAP 1498). A day counts as one way when 80% of its flights used that way. PO boxes and other postcodes for organisations that receive a lot of post are left out: they sit at a delivery office or a business, not at homes.
Near BS16
BS15 BS5 BS7 BS30 BS34 BS4 BS10 BS8
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Bristol. Flight tracks: adsb.lol (ODbL 1.0); Weather at each airport: Iowa Environmental Mesonet; Ground heights: Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right; Postcode positions: ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup (OGL). Licence: Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0.