Planes overhead in W4
Hounslow, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham, London. All 992 of its postcodes measured (32 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 and the planes over Hounslow, 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 W4. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 310
a day
Of its 992 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 95
- on an edge
- 44
- under 10
- 853
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 168
a day
Of its 992 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 95
- on an edge
- 43
- under 10
- 854
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 4
a day
Of its 992 postcodes:
- under 10
- 992
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| W4 1194 postcodes | 194 under 10 | 194 under 10 | 194 under 10 |
| W4 2213 postcodes | 35 at 100+ | 35 at 100+ | 213 under 10 |
| W4 3248 postcodes | 60 at 100+ | 60 at 100+ | 248 under 10 |
| W4 4128 postcodes | 128 under 10 | 128 under 10 | 128 under 10 |
| W4 5209 postcodes | 209 under 10 | 209 under 10 | 209 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.
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 W4
SW13 W3 W6 W12 TW8 SW14 TW9 W5
The councils
- Hounslow: noise and liveability score
- Ealing: 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.