Planes overhead in SE11
Lambeth and Southwark, London. All 468 of its postcodes measured (28 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 Lambeth, 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 SE11. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 303
a day
Of its 468 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 104
- 10 to 99
- 285
- on an edge
- 79
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 171
a day
Of its 468 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 102
- 10 to 99
- 292
- on an edge
- 74
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 4
a day
Of its 468 postcodes:
- under 10
- 468
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE11 4185 postcodes | 35 at 100+ | 35 at 100+ | 185 under 10 |
| SE11 5161 postcodes | 69 at 100+ | 67 at 100+ | 161 under 10 |
| SE11 6122 postcodes | 122 at 10 to 99 | 122 at 10 to 99 | 122 under 10 |
From London City
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way London City flies, and that decides how many pass over SE11. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 468 postcodes:
- under 10
- 468
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 28
a day
Of its 468 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 350
- on an edge
- 94
- under 10
- 24
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 62
a day
Of its 468 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 360
- on an edge
- 92
- under 10
- 16
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 west47% of days | Both ways18% of days | Flying east35% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE11 4185 postcodes | 185 under 10 | 67 at 10 to 99 | 77 at 10 to 99 |
| SE11 5161 postcodes | 161 under 10 | 161 at 10 to 99 | 161 at 10 to 99 |
| SE11 6122 postcodes | 122 under 10 | 122 at 10 to 99 | 122 at 10 to 99 |
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. 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 SE11
SE17 SW1P SE1 SW1H SW1V SW8 SW1E SW9
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow and London City. 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.