Planes overhead in E18
Redbridge, London. All 363 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 E18. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 28 a day; of its 363 postcodes, 315 at 10 to 99, 48 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 15 a day; of its 363 postcodes, 38 at 10 to 99, 325 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): under 1 a day at all 363 of its postcodes
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E18 1152 postcodes | 118 at 10 to 9934 under 10 | 3 at 10 to 99149 under 10 | 152 under 10 |
| E18 2205 postcodes | 191 at 10 to 9914 under 10 | 35 at 10 to 99170 under 10 | 205 under 10 |
| E18 96 postcodes | 6 at 10 to 99 | 6 under 10 | 6 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 E18. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 20 a day; of its 363 postcodes, 195 at 10 to 99, 59 on an edge, 109 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 17 a day; of its 363 postcodes, 130 at 10 to 99, 233 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 17 a day; of its 363 postcodes, 49 at 10 to 99, 314 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E18 1152 postcodes | 142 at 10 to 9910 on an edge | 121 at 10 to 9931 under 10 | 46 at 10 to 99106 under 10 |
| E18 2205 postcodes | 47 at 10 to 9949 on an edge109 under 10 | 9 at 10 to 99196 under 10 | 3 at 10 to 99202 under 10 |
| E18 96 postcodes | 6 at 10 to 99 | 6 under 10 | 6 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.
Near E18
IG8 IG4 IG5 E11 E17 E4 E10 IG2
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.