Planes overhead in SE17
Southwark, London. All 685 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 SE17. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 300 a day; of its 685 postcodes, 401 at 100+, 214 at 10 to 99, 70 on an edge
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 170 a day; of its 685 postcodes, 309 at 100+, 303 at 10 to 99, 73 on an edge
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 3 a day; of its 685 postcodes, 685 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE17 1225 postcodes | 39 at 100+154 at 10 to 9932 on an edge | 214 at 10 to 9911 on an edge | 225 under 10 |
| SE17 2236 postcodes | 228 at 100+8 on an edge | 192 at 100+29 at 10 to 9915 on an edge | 236 under 10 |
| SE17 3207 postcodes | 134 at 100+43 at 10 to 9930 on an edge | 117 at 100+43 at 10 to 9947 on an edge | 207 under 10 |
| SE17 917 postcodes | 17 at 10 to 99 | 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 SE17. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): under 1 a day at all 685 of its postcodes
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 11 a day; of its 685 postcodes, 1 on an edge, 684 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 16 a day; of its 685 postcodes, 2 on an edge, 683 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE17 1225 postcodes | 225 under 10 | 225 under 10 | 225 under 10 |
| SE17 2236 postcodes | 236 under 10 | 236 under 10 | 236 under 10 |
| SE17 3207 postcodes | 207 under 10 | 1 on an edge206 under 10 | 2 on an edge205 under 10 |
| SE17 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.
1 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 SE17
SE1 SE11 SE5 EC4R SW9 EC3R SE15 EC4V
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.