Planes overhead in E18
Redbridge, London. All 347 of its postcodes measured (16 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 Redbridge, 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 E18. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 28
a day
Of its 347 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 299
- under 10
- 48
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 15
a day
Of its 347 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 38
- under 10
- 309
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Under 1
a day, at all 347 of its postcodes
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E18 1146 postcodes | 112 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 | 146 under 10 |
| E18 2201 postcodes | 187 at 10 to 99 | 35 at 10 to 99 | 201 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 E18. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 20
a day
Of its 347 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 182
- on an edge
- 57
- under 10
- 108
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 347 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 129
- under 10
- 218
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 347 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 49
- under 10
- 298
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E18 1146 postcodes | 138 at 10 to 99 | 120 at 10 to 99 | 46 at 10 to 99 |
| E18 2201 postcodes | 44 at 10 to 99 | 9 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 |
Also counted here: Stansted, at most 1 a day over any of its postcodes.
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 E18
IG8 IG4 IG5 E11 E17 E4 E10 IG2
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.