Planes overhead in N5
Islington and Hackney, London. All 414 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 N5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 126 a day; of its 414 postcodes, 58 at 100+, 356 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 80 a day; of its 414 postcodes, 414 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 2 a day; of its 414 postcodes, 414 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| N5 1216 postcodes | 16 at 100+200 at 10 to 99 | 216 at 10 to 99 | 216 under 10 |
| N5 2192 postcodes | 42 at 100+150 at 10 to 99 | 192 at 10 to 99 | 192 under 10 |
| N5 96 postcodes | 6 at 10 to 99 | 6 at 10 to 99 | 6 under 10 |
Also counted here: London City, at most 1 a day over any of its postcodes.
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 N5
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.