Just when you’ve found the perfect house, you realise it’s right under a flight path. But the question is; should you buy the house or give it a miss?
I recall looking at a house, which was on the flight path into Stansted Airport, and watching the planes come into land. I remember thinking how exciting it was, but then sat back and realised the novelty would soon wear off. Standing and watching planes come into land over someone else’s property vs living in the house under the flight path are quite different, so I didn’t buy the house in the end.
There are a number of factors to consider when buying a house under a flight path, which include noise pollution, air pollution and the effect on house prices. Which is why you need to consider carefully whether you should buy a house on a flight path.
Buying a house on a flight path is not to be taken lightly as it can be very loud, especially on the outbound flight path from busy airports like Heathrow and Gatwick in the UK or Atlanta and Los Angeles airports in America. To know if a house is on a flight path use the free FlightRadar24 app.
Please read to the end and watch the last video I share in this article, as this is worth watching on its own. It should make you laugh, as it did me.
It is unhealthy living on a flight path, as you’re exposed to noise and jet engine pollution. It’s known that jet engine fumes are unhealthy, but noise from aircraft is also damaging to your health as every additional 10 decibels at night appears to increase the risk of high blood pressure by 69%.
“Researchers examined data from 420 people living near busy Athens International Airport in Greece and found living with high noise levels from aircraft, especially at night, was associated with high blood pressure. Every additional 10 decibels of night-time aircraft noise appeared to result in a 69 per cent increased risk of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.”
The Independent – Living under a flight path may raise risk of high blood pressure and stroke, study finds
How do you know if a house is on a flight path?
The best way to know if a house is under a flight path is to use the FlightRadar24 mobile app or web-browser app or use the Flightaware.com web-browser app. Both flight path apps show the skies anywhere in the world of flights inbound or outbound from any airport.
To tell if a house is under a flight path, your checking needs to be when the airport is open and flights are arriving and departing, otherwise there won’t be any planes shown on the flight-path-app for your chosen airport. These apps show flights in real-time as they take-off and land.
Click on individual planes to see aircraft details for any plane when using the FlightRada24 App on your mobile phone. Information on the flight app includes flight destination or departure airport, the airline, type of aircraft and times of the flight.
The same information is available on the FlightRada24 and Flightware.com web-browser apps too.
When you click on any of the planes you get the full details for the flight. Details include the arrival or departure times, destination or departure airport, the airline and type of aircraft.
The FlightRada24 web-browser app shows these details down the right side of the screen (see below images), whereas the Flightaware.com opens the flight into another web browser page.
How can you see flight paths?
The best way to see flight paths is to use FlightRadar24 mobile app or their web-browser app as this app gives all the information you need for houses under a flight path. Select any of the planes in the app and the complete inbound or outbound flight path for the chosen plane will be shown.
How to see flight paths using FlightRadar24 App
The following image is of the outbound flight path for London Heathrow Airport using the FlightRadar24 App. The upside of using the FlightRadar24 App for outbound flight paths is the names of towns and villages are shown on the map.
The following image is of the inbound flight path for London Heathrow Airport using the FlightRadar24 App. The upside of using the FlightRadar24 App for inbound flight paths is the names of towns and villages are shown on the map.
How to see flight paths using FlightRadar24 web-browser App
FlightRadar24 also have a web-browser app to access flight paths for flights landing and departing at airports around the world.
The following image is of the inbound flight path for London Heathrow Airport using the FlightRadar24 web-browser App. The upside of using the FlightRadar24 web-browser App for inbound flight paths is the names of towns and villages are shown on the map.
Inbound flight path for London Heathrow Airport using FlightRadar24 web-browser app – Image courtesy of FlightRadar24
Another advantage of using the FlightRadar24 app over using Flightaware.com is when you click on the aircraft, the complete flight path is shown on the main map.
The advantage of using the FlightRadar24 web-browser app vs the mobile app for checking flight paths is you have a larger screen.
But also, and as shown in the FlightRadar24 web-browser images above and below, when you select an inbound or outbound flight, the app shows the complete flight path taken by the plane.
You can use this feature of the app to check if your house, or a house you are looking to buy is under a flight path.
The following image is of the outbound flight path for London Heathrow Airport using the FlightRadar24 web-browser App. The upside of using the FlightRadar24 App for checking outbound flight paths is the names of towns and villages are shown on the map.
Outbound flight path for London Heathrow Airport using FlightRadar24 web-browser app – Image courtesy of FlightRadar24
The following image is of the inbound flight path for Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport using the FlightRadar24 web-browser App, which is America’s business airport with many houses on the flight paths into and out of the airport.
Inbound flight path for Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport using FlightRadar24 web-browser app – Image courtesy of FlightRadar24
The following image is of the inbound flight path for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) using the FlightRadar24 web-browser App, which is America’s business airport, another of America’s busy international airports with many houses on the flight path to the airport.
Although the benefit of the location of LAX is when the wind is in a westerly direction, planes take-off into the Pacific Ocean, so they don’t affect any houses on their flight path out of the airport. LAX will only ever have one flight path over houses, and when the wind changes direction to an easterly, the outbound flight path will be over houses and the inbound flight path will be over the ocean instead.
Inbound flight path for Los Angeles International Airport using FlightRadar24 web-browser app – Image courtesy of FlightRadar24
Both the FlightRadar24 mobile app and website app are free, but they have upgrade options for a paid-for app too. The app costs £33.99 per year in the UK or $34.99 in the USA.
How to see flight paths using Flightaware.com
The following image is of the outbound flight path for London Heathrow Airport, taken from Flightaware.com. The downside of using Flightpath.com is the names of towns and villages are not shown like they are on the mobile FlightRada24 app.
Heathrow Airport outbound flight path using Flightaware.com -Image courtesy of Flightaware.com
The following image is of the inbound flight path for London Heathrow Airport, taken from Flightaware.com. The downside of using Flightpath.com is the names of towns and villages are not shown like they are on the mobile FlightRada24 app.
Heathrow Airport inbound flight path using Flightaware.com -Image courtesy of Flightaware.com
Is it loud living next to an airport?
It can be very loud living next to an airport, and how loud it is depends on whether you are on the inbound or outbound flight path.
Outbound flight paths are noisier as the jet aircraft will be on full thrust at around 120 decibels, whereas inbound flights will be slightly quieter as the engines noise will be 80dB instead.
Video of outbound aircraft taking off from Heathrow Airport
But depending on which way the wind is coming from, the flight path for departures and landings can change. Which means that even if you buy a house on the quieter inbound flight path, you may experience departures too when the wind changes direction.
Part of your research into houses on a flight path should include finding out which way the prevailing wind comes from.
Planes need to take off and land into the wind, which means if the wind is come from the west, planes will use an east-west flight path for take-off, as well as an east-west flight path for landing.
Video of outbound aircraft landing at Heathrow Airport
You’ll find some really useful information I’ve put together in this article, which includes how airports affect house prices, a very handy table of airport noise levels for take off and landing aircraft, together with a table of how loud decibel levels of noise are.
But also, the article includes useful information on how far away from an airport should you live to limit noise levels too.
But something you may not know, which I didn’t until writing this other article about living near a school, is that the record braking human scream is actually louder than a jet engine on take-off at 120 decibels. Follow this link to how many decibels is a kids scream to find out how loud this is.
Video of Concorde taking off from Heathrow – note the car alarm that is set-off as Concorde’s very loud jet engines roar on take-off.
Living under a flight path can be really bad if the flight path is generally for outbound flights, as the jet engines will be at full thrust for take-off.
But it’s not quite as bad living under the inbound flight path, as the jet engines will be quieter when a plane is landing, but it is still bad.
Is there an app to identify planes flying overhead?
The best mobile app to identify planes flying overhead is the FlightRadar24 App or use the web-browser version on your computer, which can be found at FlightRadar24.com.
How low can a plane fly over a house?
An aircraft should be no lower than 1,000 feet over houses in a built up area, except when necessary for take -off and landing. How low an aircraft is over a house on take-off and landing will depend on the aircraft and how close the house is to the airport.
If you are using a web-browser or mobile app like FlighRadar24 for a position source or to check planes flying overhead, the altitude displayed on their website or on the app is not necessarily indicative of an aircrafts true height above the ground.
Take a look at this video of how low aircraft get to houses on the approach to Heathrow airport. this is definitely less than 1,000 feet, which is okay for landing height over houses. Whilst on the one hand it would be exciting living there, I personally wouldn’t like this for the long term.
If you want to find out if your house under a flight path you can use the FlightRadar24 mobile app or website-browser app to find out. Click on any inbound or outbound flight and this will show the complete flight path leading to or away from the airport near the house.
Selling house under flight path
If you are selling a house under a flight path, noise and pollution will be the main concerns for prospective buyers. Buyers will be interested to experience the level of noise and the frequency of flights on the flight path over your house.
Flight tanking off from St. Maarten
You have to watch the following video of an KLM aircraft taking off from St. Maarten. This made me laugh out loud when I watched it, and this is my favourite aircraft, the Boeing 747.
Finally, you may also like to discover how you could save you up to £71,475 when you buy your next house if it would originally cost £350,000. Alternatively, if you propose to buy your next house for £250,000, the saving could be up to £51,852 instead.
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Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been investing in property since purchasing his first commercial property in the 1990's for his own Chartered Accountancy business. But his first property investment project was to turn an old dilapidated restaurant into a large 5-bed home, which he purchased for £117,500 and sold for £450,000 (to see an "after" photo of the house before it was sold see here: About). Russell owns a number of investment properties, which includes houses, flats and HMO's. More recently he has turned his creative side to investing in property using lease options. His largest lease option deal to date was to acquire 12 properties worth over £2 million for just £12, which means he paid just £1 to acquire each property!
