Planes overhead in SW17
Wandsworth and Merton, London. All 969 of its postcodes measured (32 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 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 SW17. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 4
a day
Of its 969 postcodes:
- under 10
- 969
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 71
a day
Of its 969 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 906
- under 10
- 63
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 158
a day
Of its 969 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 309
- 10 to 99
- 652
- under 10
- 8
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SW17 0296 postcodes | 296 under 10 | 293 at 10 to 99 | 69 at 100+ |
| SW17 632 postcodes | 32 under 10 | 32 at 10 to 99 | 32 at 10 to 99 |
| SW17 7215 postcodes | 215 under 10 | 158 at 10 to 99 | 207 at 10 to 99 |
| SW17 8206 postcodes | 206 under 10 | 203 at 10 to 99 | 27 at 100+ |
| SW17 9220 postcodes | 220 under 10 | 220 at 10 to 99 | 213 at 100+ |
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 SW17
SW12 SW19 SW16 SW18 CR4 SW2 SW4 SW11
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.