Planes overhead in E1W
Tower Hamlets, London. All 433 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 E1W. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 108 a day; of its 433 postcodes, 63 at 100+, 370 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 69 a day; of its 433 postcodes, 433 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 433 postcodes, 433 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1W 177 postcodes | 77 at 10 to 99 | 77 at 10 to 99 | 77 under 10 |
| E1W 2128 postcodes | 11 at 100+117 at 10 to 99 | 128 at 10 to 99 | 128 under 10 |
| E1W 3143 postcodes | 52 at 100+91 at 10 to 99 | 143 at 10 to 99 | 143 under 10 |
| E1W 985 postcodes | 85 at 10 to 99 | 85 at 10 to 99 | 85 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 E1W. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 433 postcodes, 433 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 29 a day; of its 433 postcodes, 245 at 10 to 99, 80 on an edge, 108 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 64 a day; of its 433 postcodes, 290 at 10 to 99, 56 on an edge, 87 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E1W 177 postcodes | 77 under 10 | 46 at 10 to 9928 on an edge3 under 10 | 59 at 10 to 9918 on an edge |
| E1W 2128 postcodes | 128 under 10 | 73 at 10 to 9935 on an edge20 under 10 | 90 at 10 to 9936 on an edge2 under 10 |
| E1W 3143 postcodes | 143 under 10 | 126 at 10 to 9917 on an edge | 141 at 10 to 992 on an edge |
| E1W 985 postcodes | 85 under 10 | 85 under 10 | 85 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.
26 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 E1W
E1 EC3N SE16 EC3A EC3M EC3R EC3V EC2N
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.