Planes overhead in E10
Waltham Forest, London. All 566 of its postcodes measured (41 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
For Heathrow's expansion consultation, open until 22 December 2026: the planes over Waltham Forest, council by council.
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 E10. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 192
a day
Of its 566 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 501
- 10 to 99
- 65
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 111
a day
Of its 566 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 92
- 10 to 99
- 474
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 2
a day
Of its 566 postcodes:
- under 10
- 566
Each sector's bar splits its postcodes by how many planes pass over them a day; the figure above it counts those in the busiest band the sector reaches. The list above gives the whole district's counts.
| Sector | Flying west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| E10 5228 postcodes | 228 at 100+ | 31 at 100+ | 228 under 10 |
| E10 6167 postcodes | 102 at 100+ | 167 at 10 to 99 | 167 under 10 |
| E10 7171 postcodes | 171 at 100+ | 61 at 100+ | 171 under 10 |
From London City
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way London City flies, and that decides how many pass over E10. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 62
a day
Of its 566 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 291
- on an edge
- 108
- under 10
- 167
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 36
a day
Of its 566 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 296
- on an edge
- 90
- under 10
- 180
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 566 postcodes:
- under 10
- 566
Each sector's bar splits its postcodes by how many planes pass over them a day; the figure above it counts those in the busiest band the sector reaches. The list above gives the whole district's counts.
| Sector | Flying west47% of days | Both ways18% of days | Flying east35% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| E10 5228 postcodes | 178 at 10 to 99 | 181 at 10 to 99 | 228 under 10 |
| E10 6167 postcodes | 112 at 10 to 99 | 110 at 10 to 99 | 167 under 10 |
| E10 7171 postcodes | 1 at 10 to 99 | 5 at 10 to 99 | 171 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.
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. PO boxes and other postcodes for organisations that receive a lot of post are left out: they sit at a delivery office or a business, not at homes.
Near E10
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow and London City. 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.