Planes overhead in SE5
Southwark and Lambeth, London. All 835 of its postcodes measured (48 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 and the planes over Southwark, 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 SE5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 522
a day
Of its 835 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 835
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 288
a day
Of its 835 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 835
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 4
a day
Of its 835 postcodes:
- under 10
- 835
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE5 0189 postcodes | 189 at 100+ | 189 at 100+ | 189 under 10 |
| SE5 521 postcodes | 21 at 100+ | 21 at 100+ | 21 under 10 |
| SE5 7222 postcodes | 222 at 100+ | 222 at 100+ | 222 under 10 |
| SE5 8220 postcodes | 220 at 100+ | 220 at 100+ | 220 under 10 |
| SE5 9183 postcodes | 183 at 100+ | 183 at 100+ | 183 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 SE5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 835 postcodes:
- under 10
- 835
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 27
a day
Of its 835 postcodes:
- on an edge
- 14
- under 10
- 821
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 61
a day
Of its 835 postcodes:
- on an edge
- 16
- under 10
- 819
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE5 0189 postcodes | 189 under 10 | 3 on an edge | 3 on an edge |
| SE5 521 postcodes | 21 under 10 | 21 under 10 | 21 under 10 |
| SE5 7222 postcodes | 222 under 10 | 222 under 10 | 222 under 10 |
| SE5 8220 postcodes | 220 under 10 | 220 under 10 | 220 under 10 |
| SE5 9183 postcodes | 183 under 10 | 11 on an edge | 13 on an edge |
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.
2 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. 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 SE5
SE17 SW9 SE15 SE24 SE11 SE22 SE1 SW8
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.