Planes overhead in SW12
Wandsworth and Lambeth, London. All 567 of its postcodes measured (27 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 Wandsworth, 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 SW12. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 16
a day
Of its 567 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 135
- under 10
- 432
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 567 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 83
- under 10
- 484
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 37
a day
Of its 567 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 162
- under 10
- 405
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SW12 0157 postcodes | 71 at 10 to 99 | 39 at 10 to 99 | 43 at 10 to 99 |
| SW12 8233 postcodes | 21 at 10 to 99 | 2 at 10 to 99 | 45 at 10 to 99 |
| SW12 9177 postcodes | 43 at 10 to 99 | 42 at 10 to 99 | 74 at 10 to 99 |
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 SW12
SW4 SW17 SW2 SW11 SW18 SW16 SE24 SW9
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.