In 2014, Randall Monroe (of xkcd fame) calculated the true flyover state.

if you just count flights that cross the state without takeoff or landing in the state, it's Virginia, then Maryland, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

Alternatively, you can look at the states with the highest ratio of (flights that cross the state) / (flights that start or end in the state). That's Delaware, which in 2014 had zero airline service. After Delaware, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and the Dakotas.

Finally, coolest map today. For each state, which airport generated the most flyovers.




http://www.businessinsider.com/which-states-are-flown-over-the-most-2014-10

Interesting. Most of these make sense, but I would have guessed Georgia would get more flyovers from CLT, IAH, or a Florida airport than LGA.

For PA WV and VA the greatest number of fly overs is YYZ?

For PA it should be EWR. For For WV I'd think a D.C. Area airport. It says in the article that 20% of ATL flights pass over VA. That would be 200+ flights per day. No way YYZ exceeds that.

kitplane01 wrote:

if you just count flights that cross the state without takeoff or landing in the state, it's Virginia, then Maryland, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

DC Center gets to deal with all of that. Everything from LGA, EWR, and JFK southbound goes heads up with northbound traffic from CLT and ATL. VA, MD, NC, and southern PA (plus eastern WV) is DC Center, which gets even more fun when you throw in some summer storms...or some bad roofers dumping glue into the air handlers!

kitplane01 wrote:

I Alaska,.

Wait...I thought Alaska has plenty of flights that take off or end there, and many of them intrastate ones...

Bobloblaw wrote:

For PA WV and VA the greatest number of fly overs is YYZ?

For PA it should be EWR. For For WV I'd think a D.C. Area airport. It says in the article that 20% of ATL flights pass over VA. That would be 200+ flights per day. No way YYZ exceeds that.

If this is all flights, I wonder if YYZ - ENTIRE Carribean/Eastern South America/ Miami are all included?


(At work and didn't read the full article)

It is interesting that while VT is BOS, NH is IAD and ME is EWR. Those must be European flights, while VT is domestic.

Surprised Virginia isn't ATL!!!!

I checked in OAG. ATL has more than 2x as many flights crossing VA than does YYZ and EWR has more flights crossing PA than does YYZ.

Vermont is so small that flights from YUL even going to due south might not cross over it.

Bobloblaw wrote:

I checked in OAG. ATL has more than 2x as many flights crossing VA than does YYZ and EWR has more flights crossing PA than does YYZ.

Vermont is so small that flights from YUL even going to due south might not cross over it.

That's correct - most flights from YUL going south fly over New York State, not Vermont.

Really Cool

Map is interesting
Also found the fact that Maryland as small as it is has so many fly overs

packcheer wrote:

Bobloblaw wrote:

For PA WV and VA the greatest number of fly overs is YYZ?

For PA it should be EWR. For For WV I'd think a D.C. Area airport. It says in the article that 20% of ATL flights pass over VA. That would be 200+ flights per day. No way YYZ exceeds that.

If this is all flights, I wonder if YYZ - ENTIRE Carribean/Eastern South America/ Miami are all included?


(At work and didn't read the full article)

Yes, every flight in the world counts. And YYZ -> Caribbean is mentioned in the article.

AntonioMartin wrote:

kitplane01 wrote:

I Alaska,.

Wait...I thought Alaska has plenty of flights that take off or end there, and many of them intrastate ones...

Intra-state does not count. I don't think I made that clear.

Bobloblaw wrote:

I checked in OAG. ATL has more than 2x as many flights crossing VA than does YYZ and EWR has more flights crossing PA than does YYZ.

From the article "Part of the reason for Toronto's dominance is that it has many direct flights to the Caribbean and South America, which cross US airspace on the way to their destinations."

Did you check flights that cross Virginia but don't start or land in the US at all?

kitplane01 wrote:

From the article "Part of the reason for Toronto's dominance is that it has many direct flights to the Caribbean and South America, which cross US airspace on the way to their destinations."

I live in the Toronto area and observe planes taking off from YYZ every day.....9 out of 10 taking off planes turn south and fly in various directions over the US.....most with end destinations in the US, some to the Caribbean and some further south of that....

kitplane01 wrote:

Bobloblaw wrote:

I checked in OAG. ATL has more than 2x as many flights crossing VA than does YYZ and EWR has more flights crossing PA than does YYZ.

From the article "Part of the reason for Toronto's dominance is that it has many direct flights to the Caribbean and South America, which cross US airspace on the way to their destinations."

Did you check flights that cross Virginia but don't start or land in the US at all?

Yes everything from YYZ south...I and didnt include ATL-Europe flights.

kitplane01 wrote:

AntonioMartin wrote:

kitplane01 wrote:

I Alaska,.

Wait...I thought Alaska has plenty of flights that take off or end there, and many of them intrastate ones...

Intra-state does not count. I don't think I made that clear.

Oh ok..

Gr8Circle wrote:

kitplane01 wrote:

From the article "Part of the reason for Toronto's dominance is that it has many direct flights to the Caribbean and South America, which cross US airspace on the way to their destinations."

I live in the Toronto area and observe planes taking off from YYZ every day.....9 out of 10 taking off planes turn south and fly in various directions over the US.....most with end destinations in the US, some to the Caribbean and some further south of that....

I'm not familiar with the departure patterns of YYZ, and I'm not sure why planes would turn south to go to Canadian destinations, but in case you're interested:

YYZ for 2016 had on average 577 departures per day

Of those:

250 went to Canadian destinations

225 went to U.S. destinations (much more than I would've thought)

So that's 475. The rest of the 100 (give or take) . . .

9 to the Mother Country

6 each to Dominican Republican and Jamaica

5 to Germany

3 to the Netherlands

And the rest are a whole lot of onesies and twosies (including the Mistress Country).

(BTW, great thread, and great work by Randall of xkcd fame (whatever that is . . . perhaps I should Google for more great work!))

doug_or wrote:

Interesting. Most of these make sense, but I would have guessed Georgia would get more flyovers from CLT, IAH, or a Florida airport than LGA.

I count only LGA-MSY/BHM/JAX (maybe) as routes that would cross Georgia (based on GCM link below). LGA-IAH would pass to the north of Georgia while LGA-MCO/TPA/FLL/MIA would pass to the east of Georgia.

http://www.gcmap.com/mapui?P=Lga-tpa,+l ... -bhm&DU=mi

How could LGA possibly be #1 for Georgia?