Planes overhead in W3
Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith and Fulham, London. All 1,125 of its postcodes measured (33 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 Ealing, 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 W3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 2
a day
Of its 1,125 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,125
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 77
a day
Of its 1,125 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 224
- on an edge
- 43
- under 10
- 858
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 175
a day
Of its 1,125 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 184
- 10 to 99
- 63
- on an edge
- 84
- under 10
- 794
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| W3 0156 postcodes | 156 under 10 | 148 at 10 to 99 | 132 at 100+ |
| W3 6293 postcodes | 293 under 10 | 76 at 10 to 99 | 52 at 100+ |
| W3 7261 postcodes | 261 under 10 | 6 on an edge | 12 at 10 to 99 |
| W3 8254 postcodes | 254 under 10 | 254 under 10 | 254 under 10 |
| W3 9161 postcodes | 161 under 10 | 9 on an edge | 3 at 10 to 99 |
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 W3
The councils
- Ealing: noise and liveability score
- Hounslow: noise and liveability score
- Hammersmith and Fulham: noise and liveability score
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for 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.