Planes overhead in E3
Tower Hamlets and Newham, London. All 1,176 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 E3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 149 a day; of its 1,176 postcodes, 1,058 at 100+, 118 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 86 a day; of its 1,176 postcodes, 1,176 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 1,176 postcodes, 1,176 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E3 2334 postcodes | 333 at 100+1 at 10 to 99 | 334 at 10 to 99 | 334 under 10 |
| E3 3301 postcodes | 301 at 100+ | 301 at 10 to 99 | 301 under 10 |
| E3 4280 postcodes | 268 at 100+12 at 10 to 99 | 280 at 10 to 99 | 280 under 10 |
| E3 5248 postcodes | 143 at 100+105 at 10 to 99 | 248 at 10 to 99 | 248 under 10 |
| E3 913 postcodes | 13 at 100+ | 13 at 10 to 99 | 13 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 E3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 62 a day; of its 1,176 postcodes, 1,086 at 10 to 99, 40 on an edge, 50 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 36 a day; of its 1,176 postcodes, 1,040 at 10 to 99, 34 on an edge, 102 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 1,176 postcodes, 1,176 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E3 2334 postcodes | 334 at 10 to 99 | 334 at 10 to 99 | 334 under 10 |
| E3 3301 postcodes | 273 at 10 to 9925 on an edge3 under 10 | 242 at 10 to 9931 on an edge28 under 10 | 301 under 10 |
| E3 4280 postcodes | 273 at 10 to 997 on an edge | 271 at 10 to 993 on an edge6 under 10 | 280 under 10 |
| E3 5248 postcodes | 193 at 10 to 998 on an edge47 under 10 | 180 at 10 to 9968 under 10 | 248 under 10 |
| E3 913 postcodes | 13 at 10 to 99 | 13 at 10 to 99 | 13 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.
2 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 E3
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.