Planes overhead in IG5
Redbridge, London. All 238 of its postcodes measured, 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 IG5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 45 a day; of its 238 postcodes, 44 at 10 to 99, 41 on an edge, 153 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 34 a day; of its 238 postcodes, 64 at 10 to 99, 22 on an edge, 152 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 17 a day; of its 238 postcodes, 164 at 10 to 99, 74 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IG5 0238 postcodes | 44 at 10 to 9941 on an edge153 under 10 | 64 at 10 to 9922 on an edge152 under 10 | 164 at 10 to 9974 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 IG5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 20 a day; of its 238 postcodes, 71 at 10 to 99, 167 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 9 a day; of its 238 postcodes, 238 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): under 1 a day at all 238 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IG5 0238 postcodes | 71 at 10 to 99167 under 10 | 238 under 10 | 238 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 IG5
IG4 IG6 IG2 E18 IG8 IG1 IG3 E11
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.