Planes overhead in E4
Waltham Forest, London. 904 of its 933 postcodes measured, the ones in Waltham Forest (37 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 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 E4. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 15
a day
Of its 904 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 182
- on an edge
- 21
- under 10
- 701
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 904 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 196
- under 10
- 708
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 16
a day
Of its 904 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 297
- under 10
- 607
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E4 6258 postcodes | 89 at 10 to 99 | 95 at 10 to 99 | 146 at 10 to 99 |
| E4 7195 postcodes | 93 at 10 to 99 | 101 at 10 to 99 | 150 at 10 to 99 |
| E4 8202 postcodes | 202 under 10 | 202 under 10 | 202 under 10 |
| E4 9249 postcodes | 249 under 10 | 249 under 10 | 1 at 10 to 99 |
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 E4. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 16
a day
Of its 904 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 157
- under 10
- 747
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 9
a day
Of its 904 postcodes:
- under 10
- 904
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 904 postcodes:
- under 10
- 904
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E4 6258 postcodes | 258 under 10 | 258 under 10 | 258 under 10 |
| E4 7195 postcodes | 195 under 10 | 195 under 10 | 195 under 10 |
| E4 8202 postcodes | 88 at 10 to 99 | 202 under 10 | 202 under 10 |
| E4 9249 postcodes | 69 at 10 to 99 | 249 under 10 | 249 under 10 |
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.
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 E4
IG8 N9 E18 E17 N18 EN3 N17 EN1
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for London City and 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.