Planes overhead in E16
Newham, London. All 1,063 of its postcodes measured, January to August 2026.
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 E16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 151 a day; of its 1,063 postcodes, 711 at 100+, 352 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 86 a day; of its 1,063 postcodes, 1,063 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 1,063 postcodes, 1,063 under 10
The table counts the postcodes of each sector by how many planes pass over them a day: 100 or more, 10 to 99, or under 10.
| Sector | Flying west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| E16 1319 postcodes | 314 at 100+5 at 10 to 99 | 319 at 10 to 99 | 319 under 10 |
| E16 2341 postcodes | 72 at 100+269 at 10 to 99 | 341 at 10 to 99 | 341 under 10 |
| E16 3204 postcodes | 141 at 100+63 at 10 to 99 | 204 at 10 to 99 | 204 under 10 |
| E16 4173 postcodes | 173 at 100+ | 173 at 10 to 99 | 173 under 10 |
| E16 926 postcodes | 11 at 100+15 at 10 to 99 | 26 at 10 to 99 | 26 under 10 |
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 E16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 64 a day; of its 1,063 postcodes, 149 at 10 to 99, 152 on an edge, 762 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 70 a day; of its 1,063 postcodes, 145 at 10 to 99, 154 on an edge, 764 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 65 a day; of its 1,063 postcodes, 25 at 10 to 99, 153 on an edge, 885 under 10
The table counts the postcodes of each sector by how many planes pass over them a day: 100 or more, 10 to 99, or under 10.
| Sector | Flying west47% of days | Both ways18% of days | Flying east35% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| E16 1319 postcodes | 138 at 10 to 9949 on an edge132 under 10 | 129 at 10 to 9944 on an edge146 under 10 | 2 at 10 to 9992 on an edge225 under 10 |
| E16 2341 postcodes | 10 at 10 to 9975 on an edge256 under 10 | 16 at 10 to 9988 on an edge237 under 10 | 23 at 10 to 9961 on an edge257 under 10 |
| E16 3204 postcodes | 1 at 10 to 9928 on an edge175 under 10 | 22 on an edge182 under 10 | 204 under 10 |
| E16 4173 postcodes | 173 under 10 | 173 under 10 | 173 under 10 |
| E16 926 postcodes | 26 under 10 | 26 under 10 | 26 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.
22 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.
Near E16
E13 E6 SE7 E14 SE10 E15 E7 SE18
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow and London City. 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.