Planes overhead in E17
Waltham Forest, London. All 1,443 of its postcodes measured (88 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 E17. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 171
a day
Of its 1,443 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 244
- 10 to 99
- 1,199
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 98
a day
Of its 1,443 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,397
- under 10
- 46
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 2
a day
Of its 1,443 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,443
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E17 3210 postcodes | 210 at 10 to 99 | 209 at 10 to 99 | 210 under 10 |
| E17 4216 postcodes | 216 at 10 to 99 | 171 at 10 to 99 | 216 under 10 |
| E17 5220 postcodes | 220 at 10 to 99 | 220 at 10 to 99 | 220 under 10 |
| E17 6241 postcodes | 2 at 100+ | 241 at 10 to 99 | 241 under 10 |
| E17 7176 postcodes | 68 at 100+ | 176 at 10 to 99 | 176 under 10 |
| E17 8184 postcodes | 170 at 100+ | 184 at 10 to 99 | 184 under 10 |
| E17 9196 postcodes | 4 at 100+ | 196 at 10 to 99 | 196 under 10 |
Also counted here: London City, at most 1 a day over any of its postcodes; Stansted, at most 1 a day over any of its postcodes.
1 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
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 E17
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow. 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.