Planes overhead in SE8
Lewisham, Greenwich and Southwark, London. All 561 of its postcodes measured (22 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 Greenwich and the planes over Lewisham, 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 SE8. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 237
a day
Of its 561 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 561
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 130
a day
Of its 561 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 398
- 10 to 99
- 163
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 2
a day
Of its 561 postcodes:
- under 10
- 561
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE8 3206 postcodes | 206 at 100+ | 99 at 100+ | 206 under 10 |
| SE8 4162 postcodes | 162 at 100+ | 123 at 100+ | 162 under 10 |
| SE8 5193 postcodes | 193 at 100+ | 176 at 100+ | 193 under 10 |
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. 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 SE8
SE14 SE10 SE16 SE4 SE15 E14 SE13 E1W
The councils
- Lewisham: noise and liveability score
- Greenwich: noise and liveability score
- Southwark: noise and liveability score
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.