Planes overhead in CR5
Croydon and Sutton, London. 560 of its 700 postcodes measured, the ones in Croydon and Sutton, 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 CR5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 17 a day; of its 560 postcodes, 500 at 10 to 99, 60 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 11 a day; of its 560 postcodes, 114 at 10 to 99, 446 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 560 postcodes, 560 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 west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| CR5 1192 postcodes | 132 at 10 to 9960 under 10 | 192 under 10 | 192 under 10 |
| CR5 2214 postcodes | 214 at 10 to 99 | 96 at 10 to 99118 under 10 | 214 under 10 |
| CR5 3145 postcodes | 145 at 10 to 99 | 18 at 10 to 99127 under 10 | 145 under 10 |
| CR5 99 postcodes | 9 at 10 to 99 | 9 under 10 | 9 under 10 |
Over 1 of its postcodes, other flying passes too, from airfields, helicopters and airports we cannot check against official counts, so few planes from the airports we count does not mean a quiet sky there.
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 CR5
CR8 CR2 SM6 SM2 SM5 SM1 CR0 SM3
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.