Planes overhead in TW3
Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames, London. All 717 of its postcodes measured (70 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 Hounslow, 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 TW3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 317
a day
Of its 717 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 136
- on an edge
- 195
- under 10
- 386
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 247
a day
Of its 717 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 134
- 10 to 99
- 45
- on an edge
- 229
- under 10
- 309
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 188
a day
Of its 717 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 24
- 10 to 99
- 5
- on an edge
- 123
- under 10
- 565
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| TW3 1201 postcodes | 22 at 100+ | 22 at 100+ | 201 under 10 |
| TW3 2155 postcodes | 36 at 100+ | 36 at 100+ | 4 at 100+ |
| TW3 3194 postcodes | 46 at 100+ | 44 at 100+ | 6 at 100+ |
| TW3 4147 postcodes | 32 at 100+ | 32 at 100+ | 14 at 100+ |
| TW3 920 postcodes | 18 on an edge | 18 on an edge | 18 on an edge |
On an edge: the postcode is on the edge of a flight path, where a few metres decide whether a plane counts as overhead, and the fewest and the most within 100 m of it fall in different bands.
1 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 TW3
TW4 TW7 TW5 TW2 TW1 UB2 TW13 TW14
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.