Planes overhead in W5
Ealing and Hounslow, London. All 1,007 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 W5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 2 a day; of its 1,007 postcodes, 1,007 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 81 a day; of its 1,007 postcodes, 650 at 10 to 99, 95 on an edge, 262 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 188 a day; of its 1,007 postcodes, 579 at 100+, 34 at 10 to 99, 156 on an edge, 238 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| W5 1193 postcodes | 193 under 10 | 190 at 10 to 993 on an edge | 171 at 100+3 at 10 to 9919 on an edge |
| W5 2212 postcodes | 212 under 10 | 212 at 10 to 99 | 208 at 100+4 on an edge |
| W5 3196 postcodes | 196 under 10 | 111 at 10 to 9931 on an edge54 under 10 | 89 at 100+12 at 10 to 9950 on an edge45 under 10 |
| W5 4218 postcodes | 218 under 10 | 1 at 10 to 9916 on an edge201 under 10 | 1 at 100+2 at 10 to 9926 on an edge189 under 10 |
| W5 5138 postcodes | 138 under 10 | 86 at 10 to 9945 on an edge7 under 10 | 60 at 100+17 at 10 to 9957 on an edge4 under 10 |
| W5 950 postcodes | 50 under 10 | 50 at 10 to 99 | 50 at 100+ |
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.
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 W5
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.