Planes overhead in SE11
Lambeth and Southwark, London. All 496 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 SE11. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 303 a day; of its 496 postcodes, 109 at 100+, 304 at 10 to 99, 83 on an edge
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 171 a day; of its 496 postcodes, 107 at 100+, 311 at 10 to 99, 78 on an edge
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 4 a day; of its 496 postcodes, 496 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE11 4195 postcodes | 38 at 100+124 at 10 to 9933 on an edge | 38 at 100+124 at 10 to 9933 on an edge | 195 under 10 |
| SE11 5166 postcodes | 71 at 100+45 at 10 to 9950 on an edge | 69 at 100+52 at 10 to 9945 on an edge | 166 under 10 |
| SE11 6125 postcodes | 125 at 10 to 99 | 125 at 10 to 99 | 125 under 10 |
| SE11 910 postcodes | 10 at 10 to 99 | 10 at 10 to 99 | 10 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 SE11. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 496 postcodes, 496 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 28 a day; of its 496 postcodes, 358 at 10 to 99, 100 on an edge, 38 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 62 a day; of its 496 postcodes, 369 at 10 to 99, 97 on an edge, 30 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE11 4195 postcodes | 195 under 10 | 70 at 10 to 99100 on an edge25 under 10 | 81 at 10 to 9997 on an edge17 under 10 |
| SE11 5166 postcodes | 166 under 10 | 163 at 10 to 993 under 10 | 163 at 10 to 993 under 10 |
| SE11 6125 postcodes | 125 under 10 | 125 at 10 to 99 | 125 at 10 to 99 |
| SE11 910 postcodes | 10 under 10 | 10 under 10 | 10 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.
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 SE11
SE17 SW1P SE1 SW1H SW1V SW8 SW1E SW1A
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.