Planes overhead in CR5
Croydon and Sutton, London. 544 of its 684 postcodes measured, the ones in Croydon and Sutton (16 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
For Heathrow's expansion consultation, open until 22 December 2026: the planes over Croydon, council by council.
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 CR5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 544 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 484
- under 10
- 60
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 11
a day
Of its 544 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 113
- under 10
- 431
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 544 postcodes:
- under 10
- 544
Each sector's bar splits its postcodes by how many planes pass over them a day; the figure above it counts those in the busiest band the sector reaches. The list above gives the whole district's counts.
| Sector | Flying west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| CR5 1191 postcodes | 131 at 10 to 99 | 191 under 10 | 191 under 10 |
| CR5 2210 postcodes | 210 at 10 to 99 | 95 at 10 to 99 | 210 under 10 |
| CR5 3143 postcodes | 143 at 10 to 99 | 18 at 10 to 99 | 143 under 10 |
Over 1 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. PO boxes and other postcodes for organisations that receive a lot of post are left out: they sit at a delivery office or a business, not at homes.
Near CR5
CR8 CR2 SM6 SM2 SM5 SM1 CR0 SM3
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.