Planes overhead in N3
Barnet, London. All 589 of its postcodes measured (41 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
For Heathrow's expansion consultation, open until 22 December 2026: the planes over Barnet, council by council.
From Heathrow
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Heathrow flies, and that decides how many pass over N3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 106
a day
Of its 589 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 53
- 10 to 99
- 536
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 97
a day
Of its 589 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 589
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 65
a day
Of its 589 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 589
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 west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| N3 1221 postcodes | 221 at 10 to 99 | 221 at 10 to 99 | 221 at 10 to 99 |
| N3 2179 postcodes | 53 at 100+ | 179 at 10 to 99 | 179 at 10 to 99 |
| N3 3189 postcodes | 189 at 10 to 99 | 189 at 10 to 99 | 189 at 10 to 99 |
Also counted here: Stansted, at most 2 a day over any of its postcodes; Luton, at most 1 a day over any of its postcodes.
2 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 N3
N12 N2 NW11 NW4 NW7 N10 N20 N11
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow. 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.