Planes overhead in N16
Hackney and Islington, London. All 1,124 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 N16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 196 a day; of its 1,124 postcodes, 954 at 100+, 170 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 117 a day; of its 1,124 postcodes, 587 at 100+, 537 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 3 a day; of its 1,124 postcodes, 1,124 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| N16 0163 postcodes | 163 at 100+ | 54 at 100+109 at 10 to 99 | 163 under 10 |
| N16 127 postcodes | 27 at 100+ | 27 at 100+ | 27 under 10 |
| N16 5229 postcodes | 229 at 100+ | 225 at 100+4 at 10 to 99 | 229 under 10 |
| N16 6196 postcodes | 196 at 100+ | 196 at 100+ | 196 under 10 |
| N16 7180 postcodes | 177 at 100+3 at 10 to 99 | 81 at 100+99 at 10 to 99 | 180 under 10 |
| N16 8210 postcodes | 94 at 100+116 at 10 to 99 | 4 at 100+206 at 10 to 99 | 210 under 10 |
| N16 9119 postcodes | 68 at 100+51 at 10 to 99 | 119 at 10 to 99 | 119 under 10 |
Also counted here: London City, at most 1 a day over any of its postcodes.
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 N16
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for 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.