Planes overhead in SE23
Lewisham and Southwark, London. All 625 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 SE23. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 203 a day; of its 625 postcodes, 157 at 100+, 468 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 105 a day; of its 625 postcodes, 2 at 100+, 623 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 37 a day; of its 625 postcodes, 364 at 10 to 99, 261 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE23 1156 postcodes | 118 at 100+38 at 10 to 99 | 156 at 10 to 99 | 21 at 10 to 99135 under 10 |
| SE23 2209 postcodes | 6 at 100+203 at 10 to 99 | 209 at 10 to 99 | 209 at 10 to 99 |
| SE23 3248 postcodes | 33 at 100+215 at 10 to 99 | 2 at 100+246 at 10 to 99 | 122 at 10 to 99126 under 10 |
| SE23 912 postcodes | 12 at 10 to 99 | 12 at 10 to 99 | 12 at 10 to 99 |
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 SE23. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 625 postcodes, 625 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 28 a day; of its 625 postcodes, 257 at 10 to 99, 144 on an edge, 224 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 62 a day; of its 625 postcodes, 275 at 10 to 99, 151 on an edge, 199 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE23 1156 postcodes | 156 under 10 | 65 at 10 to 9923 on an edge68 under 10 | 75 at 10 to 9927 on an edge54 under 10 |
| SE23 2209 postcodes | 209 under 10 | 78 at 10 to 9939 on an edge92 under 10 | 78 at 10 to 9939 on an edge92 under 10 |
| SE23 3248 postcodes | 248 under 10 | 114 at 10 to 9970 on an edge64 under 10 | 122 at 10 to 9973 on an edge53 under 10 |
| SE23 912 postcodes | 12 under 10 | 12 on an edge | 12 on an edge |
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 SE23
SE26 SE22 SE6 SE4 SE21 SE20 SE13 SE15
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.