Planes overhead in DA5
Bexley, London. 361 of its 439 postcodes measured, the ones in Bexley, January to August 2026.
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 DA5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 361 postcodes, 361 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 28 a day; of its 361 postcodes, 162 at 10 to 99, 44 on an edge, 155 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 61 a day; of its 361 postcodes, 162 at 10 to 99, 45 on an edge, 154 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DA5 1173 postcodes | 173 under 10 | 17 at 10 to 9928 on an edge128 under 10 | 17 at 10 to 9928 on an edge128 under 10 |
| DA5 242 postcodes | 42 under 10 | 42 at 10 to 99 | 42 at 10 to 99 |
| DA5 3146 postcodes | 146 under 10 | 103 at 10 to 9916 on an edge27 under 10 | 103 at 10 to 9917 on an edge26 under 10 |
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 DA5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 3 a day; of its 361 postcodes, 361 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 6 a day; of its 361 postcodes, 361 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 10 a day; of its 361 postcodes, 1 at 10 to 99, 360 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| DA5 1173 postcodes | 173 under 10 | 173 under 10 | 173 under 10 |
| DA5 242 postcodes | 42 under 10 | 42 under 10 | 42 under 10 |
| DA5 3146 postcodes | 146 under 10 | 146 under 10 | 1 at 10 to 99145 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.
Over 172 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 DA5
DA14 DA15 DA16 DA17 SE2 DA18 SE9 BR7
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for London City and 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.