Planes overhead in E3
Tower Hamlets and Newham, London. All 1,151 of its postcodes measured (25 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 Tower Hamlets, 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 E3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 149
a day
Of its 1,151 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 1,035
- 10 to 99
- 116
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 86
a day
Of its 1,151 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,151
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 1,151 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,151
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E3 2332 postcodes | 331 at 100+ | 332 at 10 to 99 | 332 under 10 |
| E3 3298 postcodes | 298 at 100+ | 298 at 10 to 99 | 298 under 10 |
| E3 4276 postcodes | 265 at 100+ | 276 at 10 to 99 | 276 under 10 |
| E3 5245 postcodes | 141 at 100+ | 245 at 10 to 99 | 245 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 E3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 62
a day
Of its 1,151 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,061
- on an edge
- 40
- under 10
- 50
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 36
a day
Of its 1,151 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,016
- on an edge
- 34
- under 10
- 101
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 1,151 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,151
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E3 2332 postcodes | 332 at 10 to 99 | 332 at 10 to 99 | 332 under 10 |
| E3 3298 postcodes | 270 at 10 to 99 | 239 at 10 to 99 | 298 under 10 |
| E3 4276 postcodes | 269 at 10 to 99 | 267 at 10 to 99 | 276 under 10 |
| E3 5245 postcodes | 190 at 10 to 99 | 178 at 10 to 99 | 245 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.
2 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 E3
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.