UK Flight Patterns In The Sky

flightpaths

UK Flight Patterns In The Sky
Ok, so I had no idea that the airspace around the world was nearly as complicated as it is.  After just returning from numerous international flights around the world, I think I had more justification to be nervous than I was.  Watch this video and see just how amazingly complex the flight patterns over the UK are.

UK 24 from NATS on Vimeo.

Having lived in England for a little bit I found a few things really fascinating. The first was the different flights patterns into Heathrow and Gatwick. I never really preferred Gatwick to Heathrow, but to see their different flight patterns is really fascinating. The other thing I really found interesting was how the flights from the US came in one big tidal wave. Flights to the UK always start in the evening and arrive in the AM. So that wave of hundreds and hundreds of flights is just amazing to visualize.

And finally I love to see the military flights circling the north of England. When we were in school we would get strafed by fighter jets very regularly. Sometimes they would have mock battles overhead for the better part of the entire day. And to see those flights here as well was interesting. Regardless, this is a fantastic visualization of the data. Which I adore. Great data visualization is a whole section of art all unto itself.