Planes overhead in BR1
Bromley and Lewisham, London. All 1,262 of its postcodes measured, January to August 2026.
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 BR1. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 124 a day; of its 1,262 postcodes, 876 at 100+, 386 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 89 a day; of its 1,262 postcodes, 1,262 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 53 a day; of its 1,262 postcodes, 1,262 at 10 to 99
The table counts the postcodes of each sector by how many planes pass over them a day: 100 or more, 10 to 99, or under 10.
| Sector | Flying west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| BR1 1113 postcodes | 113 at 100+ | 113 at 10 to 99 | 113 at 10 to 99 |
| BR1 2304 postcodes | 4 at 100+300 at 10 to 99 | 304 at 10 to 99 | 304 at 10 to 99 |
| BR1 3267 postcodes | 206 at 100+61 at 10 to 99 | 267 at 10 to 99 | 267 at 10 to 99 |
| BR1 4236 postcodes | 235 at 100+1 at 10 to 99 | 236 at 10 to 99 | 236 at 10 to 99 |
| BR1 5228 postcodes | 204 at 100+24 at 10 to 99 | 228 at 10 to 99 | 228 at 10 to 99 |
| BR1 9114 postcodes | 114 at 100+ | 114 at 10 to 99 | 114 at 10 to 99 |
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 BR1. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): under 1 a day at all 1,262 of its postcodes
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 27 a day; of its 1,262 postcodes, 1 on an edge, 1,261 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 60 a day; of its 1,262 postcodes, 1 on an edge, 1,261 under 10
The table counts the postcodes of each sector by how many planes pass over them a day: 100 or more, 10 to 99, or under 10.
| Sector | Flying west47% of days | Both ways18% of days | Flying east35% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| BR1 1113 postcodes | 113 under 10 | 113 under 10 | 113 under 10 |
| BR1 2304 postcodes | 304 under 10 | 304 under 10 | 304 under 10 |
| BR1 3267 postcodes | 267 under 10 | 267 under 10 | 267 under 10 |
| BR1 4236 postcodes | 236 under 10 | 236 under 10 | 236 under 10 |
| BR1 5228 postcodes | 228 under 10 | 1 on an edge227 under 10 | 1 on an edge227 under 10 |
| BR1 9114 postcodes | 114 under 10 | 114 under 10 | 114 under 10 |
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.
Near BR1
BR2 BR7 SE12 BR3 SE6 SE9 BR4 SE26
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.