Planes overhead in W6
Hammersmith and Fulham and Hounslow, London. All 773 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 W6. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 310 a day; of its 773 postcodes, 23 at 100+, 69 on an edge, 681 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 168 a day; of its 773 postcodes, 23 at 100+, 65 on an edge, 685 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 4 a day; of its 773 postcodes, 773 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| W6 0232 postcodes | 232 under 10 | 232 under 10 | 232 under 10 |
| W6 639 postcodes | 39 under 10 | 39 under 10 | 39 under 10 |
| W6 7128 postcodes | 128 under 10 | 128 under 10 | 128 under 10 |
| W6 8140 postcodes | 10 at 100+54 on an edge76 under 10 | 10 at 100+50 on an edge80 under 10 | 140 under 10 |
| W6 9234 postcodes | 13 at 100+15 on an edge206 under 10 | 13 at 100+15 on an edge206 under 10 | 234 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 3 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 W6
W14 W12 SW13 W11 W4 SW5 SW6 SW10
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.