Planes overhead in IG8
Redbridge and Waltham Forest, London. 731 of its 743 postcodes measured, the ones in Redbridge and Waltham Forest (54 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 and 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 IG8. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 731 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 419
- on an edge
- 11
- under 10
- 301
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 731 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 469
- under 10
- 262
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 731 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 581
- under 10
- 150
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IG8 0214 postcodes | 195 at 10 to 99 | 208 at 10 to 99 | 214 at 10 to 99 |
| IG8 7163 postcodes | 162 at 10 to 99 | 163 at 10 to 99 | 163 at 10 to 99 |
| IG8 8170 postcodes | 39 at 10 to 99 | 65 at 10 to 99 | 106 at 10 to 99 |
| IG8 9184 postcodes | 23 at 10 to 99 | 33 at 10 to 99 | 98 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 IG8. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 12
a day
Of its 731 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 51
- under 10
- 680
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 6
a day
Of its 731 postcodes:
- under 10
- 731
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Under 1
a day, at all 731 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IG8 0214 postcodes | 214 under 10 | 214 under 10 | 214 under 10 |
| IG8 7163 postcodes | 163 under 10 | 163 under 10 | 163 under 10 |
| IG8 8170 postcodes | 22 at 10 to 99 | 170 under 10 | 170 under 10 |
| IG8 9184 postcodes | 29 at 10 to 99 | 184 under 10 | 184 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 IG8
E18 IG5 E4 IG4 IG6 E17 E11 IG2
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.