Planes overhead in W3
Ealing, Hounslow and Hammersmith and Fulham, London. All 1,158 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 W3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 2 a day; of its 1,158 postcodes, 1,158 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 77 a day; of its 1,158 postcodes, 228 at 10 to 99, 43 on an edge, 887 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 175 a day; of its 1,158 postcodes, 187 at 100+, 64 at 10 to 99, 84 on an edge, 823 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| W3 0161 postcodes | 161 under 10 | 151 at 10 to 991 on an edge9 under 10 | 135 at 100+4 at 10 to 9913 on an edge9 under 10 |
| W3 38 postcodes | 8 under 10 | 8 under 10 | 8 under 10 |
| W3 6297 postcodes | 297 under 10 | 77 at 10 to 9927 on an edge193 under 10 | 52 at 100+45 at 10 to 9938 on an edge162 under 10 |
| W3 7263 postcodes | 263 under 10 | 6 on an edge257 under 10 | 12 at 10 to 999 on an edge242 under 10 |
| W3 8265 postcodes | 265 under 10 | 265 under 10 | 265 under 10 |
| W3 9164 postcodes | 164 under 10 | 9 on an edge155 under 10 | 3 at 10 to 9924 on an edge137 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.
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 W3
The councils
- Ealing: noise and liveability score
- Hounslow: noise and liveability score
- Hammersmith and Fulham: noise and liveability score
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.