Planes overhead in E9
Hackney and Tower Hamlets, London. All 684 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 E9. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 180 a day; of its 684 postcodes, 469 at 100+, 215 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 106 a day; of its 684 postcodes, 37 at 100+, 647 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 2 a day; of its 684 postcodes, 684 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E9 5284 postcodes | 284 at 100+ | 37 at 100+247 at 10 to 99 | 284 under 10 |
| E9 6196 postcodes | 161 at 100+35 at 10 to 99 | 196 at 10 to 99 | 196 under 10 |
| E9 7192 postcodes | 24 at 100+168 at 10 to 99 | 192 at 10 to 99 | 192 under 10 |
| E9 912 postcodes | 12 at 10 to 99 | 12 at 10 to 99 | 12 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 E9. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 61 a day; of its 684 postcodes, 133 at 10 to 99, 22 on an edge, 529 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 35 a day; of its 684 postcodes, 135 at 10 to 99, 13 on an edge, 536 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 684 postcodes, 684 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| E9 5284 postcodes | 133 at 10 to 9922 on an edge129 under 10 | 135 at 10 to 9913 on an edge136 under 10 | 284 under 10 |
| E9 6196 postcodes | 196 under 10 | 196 under 10 | 196 under 10 |
| E9 7192 postcodes | 192 under 10 | 192 under 10 | 192 under 10 |
| E9 912 postcodes | 12 under 10 | 12 under 10 | 12 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.
4 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 E9
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.