Planes overhead in E4
Waltham Forest, London. 941 of its 970 postcodes measured, the ones in Waltham Forest, January to August 2026.
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 E4. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 15 a day; of its 941 postcodes, 213 at 10 to 99, 21 on an edge, 707 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 17 a day; of its 941 postcodes, 227 at 10 to 99, 714 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 16 a day; of its 941 postcodes, 328 at 10 to 99, 613 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E4 027 postcodes | 27 at 10 to 99 | 27 at 10 to 99 | 27 at 10 to 99 |
| E4 6265 postcodes | 93 at 10 to 995 on an edge167 under 10 | 99 at 10 to 99166 under 10 | 150 at 10 to 99115 under 10 |
| E4 7196 postcodes | 93 at 10 to 9916 on an edge87 under 10 | 101 at 10 to 9995 under 10 | 150 at 10 to 9946 under 10 |
| E4 8204 postcodes | 204 under 10 | 204 under 10 | 204 under 10 |
| E4 9249 postcodes | 249 under 10 | 249 under 10 | 1 at 10 to 99248 under 10 |
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 E4. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 16 a day; of its 941 postcodes, 157 at 10 to 99, 784 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 9 a day; of its 941 postcodes, 941 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 941 postcodes, 941 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E4 027 postcodes | 27 under 10 | 27 under 10 | 27 under 10 |
| E4 6265 postcodes | 265 under 10 | 265 under 10 | 265 under 10 |
| E4 7196 postcodes | 196 under 10 | 196 under 10 | 196 under 10 |
| E4 8204 postcodes | 88 at 10 to 99116 under 10 | 204 under 10 | 204 under 10 |
| E4 9249 postcodes | 69 at 10 to 99180 under 10 | 249 under 10 | 249 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.
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.
Near E4
IG8 N9 E18 E17 N18 EN3 N17 EN1
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for London City and 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.