Planes overhead in E15
Newham, Waltham Forest, Hackney and Tower Hamlets, London. All 781 of its postcodes measured (29 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 Newham, 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 E15. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 177
a day
Of its 781 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 781
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 102
a day
Of its 781 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 1
- 10 to 99
- 780
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 781 postcodes:
- under 10
- 781
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E15 1228 postcodes | 228 at 100+ | 228 at 10 to 99 | 228 under 10 |
| E15 2206 postcodes | 206 at 100+ | 1 at 100+ | 206 under 10 |
| E15 3163 postcodes | 163 at 100+ | 163 at 10 to 99 | 163 under 10 |
| E15 4184 postcodes | 184 at 100+ | 184 at 10 to 99 | 184 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 E15. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 62
a day
Of its 781 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 164
- on an edge
- 110
- under 10
- 507
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 35
a day
Of its 781 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 133
- on an edge
- 102
- under 10
- 546
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 781 postcodes:
- under 10
- 781
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E15 1228 postcodes | 37 at 10 to 99 | 30 at 10 to 99 | 228 under 10 |
| E15 2206 postcodes | 127 at 10 to 99 | 103 at 10 to 99 | 206 under 10 |
| E15 3163 postcodes | 163 under 10 | 163 under 10 | 163 under 10 |
| E15 4184 postcodes | 184 under 10 | 184 under 10 | 184 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 E15
The councils
- Newham: noise and liveability score
- Waltham Forest: noise and liveability score
- Hackney: noise and liveability score
- Tower Hamlets: noise and liveability score
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.