Planes overhead in TW3
Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames, London. All 787 of its postcodes measured, January to August 2026.
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 787 postcodes, 137 at 100+, 200 on an edge, 450 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 247 a day; of its 787 postcodes, 135 at 100+, 45 at 10 to 99, 233 on an edge, 374 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 188 a day; of its 787 postcodes, 24 at 100+, 6 at 10 to 99, 125 on an edge, 632 under 10
The table counts the postcodes of each sector by how many planes pass over them a day: 100 or more, 10 to 99, or under 10.
| Sector | Flying west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| TW3 1210 postcodes | 22 at 100+34 on an edge154 under 10 | 22 at 100+30 on an edge158 under 10 | 210 under 10 |
| TW3 2158 postcodes | 36 at 100+35 on an edge87 under 10 | 36 at 100+15 at 10 to 9947 on an edge60 under 10 | 4 at 100+31 on an edge123 under 10 |
| TW3 3196 postcodes | 46 at 100+68 on an edge82 under 10 | 44 at 100+14 at 10 to 9989 on an edge49 under 10 | 6 at 100+32 on an edge158 under 10 |
| TW3 4152 postcodes | 33 at 100+43 on an edge76 under 10 | 33 at 100+16 at 10 to 9947 on an edge56 under 10 | 14 at 100+6 at 10 to 9942 on an edge90 under 10 |
| TW3 971 postcodes | 20 on an edge51 under 10 | 20 on an edge51 under 10 | 20 on an edge51 under 10 |
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.
24 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.
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.