Planes overhead in SE13
Lewisham and Greenwich, London. All 735 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 SE13. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 206 a day; of its 735 postcodes, 735 at 100+
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 103 a day; of its 735 postcodes, 7 at 100+, 728 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 6 a day; of its 735 postcodes, 735 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE13 5217 postcodes | 217 at 100+ | 217 at 10 to 99 | 217 under 10 |
| SE13 6212 postcodes | 212 at 100+ | 212 at 10 to 99 | 212 under 10 |
| SE13 7299 postcodes | 299 at 100+ | 7 at 100+292 at 10 to 99 | 299 under 10 |
| SE13 97 postcodes | 7 at 100+ | 7 at 10 to 99 | 7 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 SE13. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): under 1 a day at all 735 of its postcodes
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 27 a day; of its 735 postcodes, 1 on an edge, 734 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 60 a day; of its 735 postcodes, 1 on an edge, 734 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE13 5217 postcodes | 217 under 10 | 217 under 10 | 217 under 10 |
| SE13 6212 postcodes | 212 under 10 | 1 on an edge211 under 10 | 1 on an edge211 under 10 |
| SE13 7299 postcodes | 299 under 10 | 299 under 10 | 299 under 10 |
| SE13 97 postcodes | 7 under 10 | 7 under 10 | 7 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 SE13
SE4 SE3 SE6 SE12 SE8 SE14 SE10 SE23
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.