Best place for overflights

[80073]

The thread on Flight Routeing made me wondered whereabouts in Britain gets the most overflights.

We do well where I live at Chelmsford with a steady procession of flights into Heathrow, but also, for example, north from France to Edinburgh and North America; west from Germany/Italy to the US and also to Bristol and Ireland: north-west to Birmingham and Manchester. Then there are some going east from Heathrow to Asia and those from London City and Gatwick to Scandinavia. On top of these there are flights in and out of Stansted and Southend. It’s a good mix! I suspect, however, that north Kent could do better with more traffic to/from Gatwick.

In addition we get the RAF Flypasts for Trooping the Colour and other royal celebrations.

My interest in aviation goes back 50+ years and I can remember when flight corridors were named eg Red One into Heathrow from northern Europe. A flight to look out for each Sunday in the early 70s was the Aeroflot Tu 104 from Leningrad to Gatwick. I believe this frequently went off route in order to pass over RAF/USAF bases in East Anglia – I wonder why?

 

[Buzby]

The bulk of Transatlantic are handled via Prestwick (Oceanic?) Control as they head over to the US transiting Scottish and Icelandic airspace - and not forgetting the many non-UK routes that ovetfly these islands in both directions, I’m amazed and the constant stream of inbound an outbound and overflights I spotted on a trip to Harris (whose airport’s daily tally seldom reaches double figures

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

The bulk of Transatlantic are handled via Prestwick (Oceanic?) Control as they head over to the US transiting Scottish and Icelandic airspace - and not forgetting the many non-UK routes that ovetfly these islands in both directions, I’m amazed and the constant stream of inbound an outbound and overflights I spotted on a trip to Harris (whose airport’s daily tally seldom reaches double figures

Plenty of trans-Atlantic flights do not enter Scottish or Icelandic airspace. The North Atlantic Track System generates fresh routes twice daily and the optimum route for any given scheduled flight can vary enormously! Suffice to say there are many places around the country overflown by such flights but with no certainty as to what will appear each day. Shorter distance flights tend to be more predictable however ie flights between mainland Europe and Ireland.

As for "hotspots" regular monitoring of flight tracking websites will soon give a good indication of such places.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I get quite a few northwest of Preston in my UK home. Heading to Scotland, northern Ireland and North America. Also there is Salmsbury and Wharton aerodromes in close proximity and Royal Preston Hospital is a trauma specialist place so we get quite a few life flights by helicopter.

 

[AlastairFraser]

I get quite a few northwest of Preston in my UK home. Heading to Scotland, northern Ireland and North America. Also there is Salmsbury and Wharton aerodromes in close proximity and Royal Preston Hospital is a trauma specialist place so we get quite a few life flights by helicopter.

Was about to say, we get a fair amount of military overflights from BAE in Warton, here in inner north Preston.

 

[Bald Rick]

Here in St Albans we get, with the wind in the western half of the compass:

All Luton departures heading east of France (at about 4-6000 feet and climbing)
All Heathrow departures to Scandinavia / Iceland and most Heathrow departures to anywhere routed over northern Germany (including most flights to Asia, and sometimes the middle east) - all of these at about 6-10,000 feet and climbing (heavies are at the bottom end of this range)
Heathrow arrivals via the Bovingdon hold (just)
Luton arrivals from Italy /France / Spain (about 10000 feet)

with the wind in the eastern half, we get
Most Heathrow departures to North America, all the West Coast and ‘middle’ plus about half the east coast, and anything to Scotland - about 6000 feet and climbing (often noisily!)

With the wind in any direction we also get

Most Stansted departures to Spain, Portugal, Canaries, southern France etc (about 10-15000 feet)
Gatwick and City departures to Scotland, Iceland and sometimes Belfast / Dublin (about 20,000 feet)
Any Luton go-arounds, often at about 2-3000 feet
some arrivals into Birmingham and East Mids, on descent at around 25-30000 feet

That‘s before the various routes criss crossing at cruise height, from all manner of north American and Irish airports to all over europe and the middle east and sometimes beyond. My favourite being the JFK - Singapore A350 (I will do that one day), plus Scandinavia to Spain and Portugal.

Oh, and the ISS occasionally

 

[Peter0124]

I'd imagine somewhere like Bellshill or Coatbridge must rank high, atleast in Scotland as most Glasgow arrivals and some Edinburgh departures fly over. For EDI its mainly ones heading west/to the canaries/Ireland/Bristol etc but also to London, which for some reason sometimes don't turn over Livingston and instead fly westbound over the aforementioned areas, turning over Cambuslang. Most of these Edinburghs are about 15,000ft with the Glasgows being about 6,000ft

Inverness also overfly, and some traffic between Aberdeen and Belfast/Dublin.

Also traffic from Japan to London/Paris (in that direction only) which has been rerouted since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These are pretty consistently flying over the Glasgow area.

And obviously you have the frequent transatlantic (mainly Westbound) and Iceland bound flights. Transatlantic seems to depend on whether its cloudy as they are mostly routed further south when its sunny here, atleast in my experience. Probably to do with the jet stream positioning.

 

[Bill57p9]

Plenty of trans-Atlantic flights do not enter Scottish or Icelandic airspace. The North Atlantic Track System generates fresh routes twice daily and the optimum route for any given scheduled flight can vary enormously! Suffice to say there are many places around the country overflown by such flights but with no certainty as to what will appear each day. Shorter distance flights tend to be more predictable however ie flights between mainland Europe and Ireland.

As for "hotspots" regular monitoring of flight tracking websites will soon give a good indication of such places.

Indeed, the “tracks” are designed twice a day based on airline route demand and the weather to give the optimal use of airspace. The vast majority of the time though flights between North America and most of Europe will overfly the UK due to the curvature of the earth. (Often Ireland too)

The bulk of Transatlantic are handled via Prestwick (Oceanic?) Control as they head over to the US transiting Scottish and Icelandic airspace - and not forgetting the many non-UK routes that ovetfly these islands in both directions, I’m amazed and the constant stream of inbound an outbound and overflights I spotted on a trip to Harris (whose airport’s daily tally seldom reaches double figures

The air traffic control centre at Prestwick has three operations: Scottish/NI, low level Northern England (pretty much anything north of Birmingham below 20000ft) and Oceanic: everything heading west from UK, Ireland and France out to 30 degrees west. Note this also includes a lot of traffic between the UK and Canary Islands.

 

[Statto]

The Wirral & surrounding area gets a lot of overflights including Transatlantic flights due to Wallasey VOR, a lot of the Transatlantic flights go to & from continental Europe too.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

A quick look at Flight Radar 24 - and don't reply on a single glance - will make it obvious where the main airways are. Screenshot below. Bearing in mind that from altitude you can see aircraft a considerable way off, especially if the conditions are right for contrails to form pointing you to where the little silvery dot is, your best bets for maximum coverage would be around the Surrey / Berkshire / Buckinghamshire area.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

What counts as an "overflight"? The situation when a plane is perhaps some 40,000 feet up in the air? Or would somewhere where a plane is maybe just 1000 feet overhead and about to land at an airport also count?

 

[80073]

What counts as an "overflight"? The situation when a plane is perhaps some 40,000 feet up in the air? Or would somewhere where a plane is maybe just 1000 feet overhead and about to land at an airport also count?

When I started this thread I had in mind flights that were not about to land, so I would say over 5,000 feet.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

A quick look at Flight Radar 24 - and don't reply on a single glance - will make it obvious where the main airways are. Screenshot below. Bearing in mind that from altitude you can see aircraft a considerable way off, especially if the conditions are right for contrails to form pointing you to where the little silvery dot is, your best bets for maximum coverage would be around the Surrey / Berkshire / Buckinghamshire area.

View attachment 163233

Other well used Airways include north/south from South Devon via Mid Wales to Chester and a broad east/west corridor from the Humber to the Mersey. And for our Irish friends when it's busy northbound flights from the Canaries and Portugal skirt the eastern Irish coast to Dublin Bay before turning towards their destinations.

As for "dot spotting" when skies are clear but atmospherics don't allow contrails to form try nighttime spotting in combination with a tracking site. Aircraft navigation lights are readily visible even from high altitudes.

What counts as an "overflight"? The situation when a plane is perhaps some 40,000 feet up in the air? Or would somewhere where a plane is maybe just 1000 feet overhead and about to land at an airport also count?

If observing aircraft as a hobby just make your own rules!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If observing aircraft as a hobby just make your own rules!

Not really my thing, but passing by Manchester Airport along the nearby A555 will often give you an excellent, if fleeting, close up view of airplane undercarriages. This seems not, however, to be what @80073 has in mind.

 

[route101]

I'd imagine somewhere like Bellshill or Coatbridge must rank high, atleast in Scotland as most Glasgow arrivals and some Edinburgh departures fly over. For EDI its mainly ones heading west/to the canaries/Ireland/Bristol etc but also to London, which for some reason sometimes don't turn over Livingston and instead fly westbound over the aforementioned areas, turning over Cambuslang. Most of these Edinburghs are about 15,000ft with the Glasgows being about 6,000ft

Inverness also overfly, and some traffic between Aberdeen and Belfast/Dublin.

Also traffic from Japan to London/Paris (in that direction only) which has been rerouted since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. These are pretty consistently flying over the Glasgow area.

And obviously you have the frequent transatlantic (mainly Westbound) and Iceland bound flights. Transatlantic seems to depend on whether its cloudy as they are mostly routed further south when its sunny here, atleast in my experience. Probably to do with the jet stream positioning.

I am near to the places mentioned. I would also add Scandic to Canaries flights, noticeable in winter.

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

I am near to the places mentioned. I would also add Scandic to Canaries flights, noticeable in winter.

These also make a pleasant change in north-west England on the north-south "Anglo-Scottish" corridor. This route has also seen regular A318 flights of Air France, a type many would now consider rare.

 

[xotGD]

Here in West Yorkshire we see plenty of transatlantic traffic, plus flights to/from Scotland on the opposite axis.

The remains of plenty of contrails visible this morning.

The Leeds-Bradford departures are at somewhat lower altitude.

 

[Tetchytyke]

As for "dot spotting" when skies are clear but atmospherics don't allow contrails to form try nighttime spotting in combination with a tracking site. Aircraft navigation lights are readily visible even from high altitudes.

Even without the contrails it's easy enough to do the dot spotting, especially on a clear day. We get quite a lot of overflights in the Isle of Man, and even at 37,000 feet it’s clear enough to spot (example attached taken with my camera)

 

[route101]

These also make a pleasant change in north-west England on the north-south "Anglo-Scottish" corridor. This route has also seen regular A318 flights of Air France, a type many would now consider rare.

What routes are the Air France A318s flying?

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

What routes are the Air France A318s flying?

They had been regulars to EDI, sadly this is now E-jet territory

 

[Peter Mugridge]

What routes are the Air France A318s flying?

F-GUGQ was at Heathrow on 27th and 28th July - seen here from the Rennaisance Hotel...

 

[route101]

They had been regulars to EDI, sadly this is now E-jet territory

There was A220s at EDI during the winter timetable.

Another rarish type that flys under the radar is the KLM 737 - 900.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Other well used Airways include north/south from South Devon via Mid Wales to Chester

I'm close to that flight route, with the regular highlight of Airbus Belugas (up to 3 a day) descending into Broughton to collect A3xx wings - originating mainly from Toulouse up the western corridor.
On approach they often do a left-hand loop over Moel Famau to align themselves with Broughton's runway from the south-west, giving us a second view.
Sometimes they overfly Liverpool airport (Speke), or Chester at low altitude if landing from the north-east.
We don't see the outbound flights as they take a more easterly route, but on take-off they make a fine sight from the car park at Tesco in Broughton.