Planes overhead in SE16
Southwark and Lewisham, London. All 1,107 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 SE16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 262 a day; of its 1,107 postcodes, 1,048 at 100+, 59 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 149 a day; of its 1,107 postcodes, 148 at 100+, 959 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 2 a day; of its 1,107 postcodes, 1,107 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE16 2210 postcodes | 210 at 100+ | 51 at 100+159 at 10 to 99 | 210 under 10 |
| SE16 3201 postcodes | 188 at 100+13 at 10 to 99 | 91 at 100+110 at 10 to 99 | 201 under 10 |
| SE16 4223 postcodes | 177 at 100+46 at 10 to 99 | 223 at 10 to 99 | 223 under 10 |
| SE16 5129 postcodes | 129 at 100+ | 129 at 10 to 99 | 129 under 10 |
| SE16 6124 postcodes | 124 at 100+ | 124 at 10 to 99 | 124 under 10 |
| SE16 7203 postcodes | 203 at 100+ | 6 at 100+197 at 10 to 99 | 203 under 10 |
| SE16 917 postcodes | 17 at 100+ | 17 at 10 to 99 | 17 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 SE16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 1,107 postcodes, 1,107 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 29 a day; of its 1,107 postcodes, 51 at 10 to 99, 43 on an edge, 1,013 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 64 a day; of its 1,107 postcodes, 75 at 10 to 99, 46 on an edge, 986 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE16 2210 postcodes | 210 under 10 | 210 under 10 | 210 under 10 |
| SE16 3201 postcodes | 201 under 10 | 201 under 10 | 201 under 10 |
| SE16 4223 postcodes | 223 under 10 | 223 under 10 | 223 under 10 |
| SE16 5129 postcodes | 129 under 10 | 49 at 10 to 9936 on an edge44 under 10 | 68 at 10 to 9938 on an edge23 under 10 |
| SE16 6124 postcodes | 124 under 10 | 2 at 10 to 997 on an edge115 under 10 | 7 at 10 to 997 on an edge110 under 10 |
| SE16 7203 postcodes | 203 under 10 | 203 under 10 | 1 on an edge202 under 10 |
| SE16 917 postcodes | 17 under 10 | 17 under 10 | 17 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.
2 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 SE16
E1W SE8 EC3N E1 SE14 EC3R EC3M E14
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.