Planes overhead in SW9
Lambeth, London. All 935 of its postcodes measured (34 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 SW9. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 56% of days
Up to 561
a day
Of its 935 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 935
On a day it flies both ways, 15% of days
Up to 313
a day
Of its 935 postcodes:
- 100 or more
- 935
On a day it flies east, 29% of days
Up to 5
a day
Of its 935 postcodes:
- under 10
- 935
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SW9 0179 postcodes | 179 at 100+ | 179 at 100+ | 179 under 10 |
| SW9 6192 postcodes | 192 at 100+ | 192 at 100+ | 192 under 10 |
| SW9 7183 postcodes | 183 at 100+ | 183 at 100+ | 183 under 10 |
| SW9 8167 postcodes | 167 at 100+ | 167 at 100+ | 167 under 10 |
| SW9 9214 postcodes | 214 at 100+ | 214 at 100+ | 214 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 SW9. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 47% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 935 postcodes:
- under 10
- 935
On a day it flies both ways, 18% of days
Up to 28
a day
Of its 935 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 561
- on an edge
- 212
- under 10
- 162
On a day it flies east, 35% of days
Up to 62
a day
Of its 935 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 576
- on an edge
- 205
- under 10
- 154
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SW9 0179 postcodes | 179 under 10 | 172 at 10 to 99 | 174 at 10 to 99 |
| SW9 6192 postcodes | 192 under 10 | 109 at 10 to 99 | 110 at 10 to 99 |
| SW9 7183 postcodes | 183 under 10 | 123 at 10 to 99 | 126 at 10 to 99 |
| SW9 8167 postcodes | 167 under 10 | 123 at 10 to 99 | 128 at 10 to 99 |
| SW9 9214 postcodes | 214 under 10 | 34 at 10 to 99 | 38 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.
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 SW9
SW8 SE5 SE24 SW4 SE11 SW2 SE17 SW1V
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.