Planes overhead in IG2
Redbridge, London. All 403 of its postcodes measured (9 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 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 IG2. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 46
a day
Of its 403 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 185
- on an edge
- 73
- under 10
- 145
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 34
a day
Of its 403 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 260
- on an edge
- 51
- under 10
- 92
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 18
a day
Of its 403 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 209
- on an edge
- 21
- under 10
- 173
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IG2 6206 postcodes | 135 at 10 to 99 | 194 at 10 to 99 | 192 at 10 to 99 |
| IG2 7197 postcodes | 50 at 10 to 99 | 66 at 10 to 99 | 17 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 IG2. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 16
a day
Of its 403 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 188
- under 10
- 215
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 7
a day
Of its 403 postcodes:
- under 10
- 403
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Under 1
a day, at all 403 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IG2 6206 postcodes | 186 at 10 to 99 | 206 under 10 | 206 under 10 |
| IG2 7197 postcodes | 2 at 10 to 99 | 197 under 10 | 197 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.
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 IG2
IG1 IG3 IG5 IG4 IG6 RM6 E12 E18
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.