Planes overhead in W12
Hammersmith and Fulham and Ealing, London. All 820 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 W12. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 2 a day; of its 820 postcodes, 820 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 80 a day; of its 820 postcodes, 44 at 10 to 99, 776 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 187 a day; of its 820 postcodes, 44 at 100+, 4 at 10 to 99, 2 on an edge, 770 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| W12 0207 postcodes | 207 under 10 | 3 at 10 to 99204 under 10 | 3 at 100+4 at 10 to 992 on an edge198 under 10 |
| W12 232 postcodes | 32 under 10 | 32 at 10 to 99 | 32 at 100+ |
| W12 64 postcodes | 4 under 10 | 4 at 10 to 99 | 4 at 100+ |
| W12 7228 postcodes | 228 under 10 | 2 at 10 to 99226 under 10 | 2 at 100+226 under 10 |
| W12 8145 postcodes | 145 under 10 | 1 at 10 to 99144 under 10 | 1 at 100+144 under 10 |
| W12 9204 postcodes | 204 under 10 | 2 at 10 to 99202 under 10 | 2 at 100+202 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.
Over 164 of its postcodes, other flying passes too, from airfields, helicopters and airports we cannot check against official counts, so few planes from the airports we count does not mean a quiet sky there.
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 W12
W11 W6 W3 W10 W14 W4 SW13 NW10
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.