Planes overhead in SE26
Lewisham, Bromley and Southwark, London. All 629 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 SE26. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 79 a day; of its 629 postcodes, 629 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 67 a day; of its 629 postcodes, 629 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 66 a day; of its 629 postcodes, 629 at 10 to 99
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE26 4193 postcodes | 193 at 10 to 99 | 193 at 10 to 99 | 193 at 10 to 99 |
| SE26 5185 postcodes | 185 at 10 to 99 | 185 at 10 to 99 | 185 at 10 to 99 |
| SE26 6241 postcodes | 241 at 10 to 99 | 241 at 10 to 99 | 241 at 10 to 99 |
| SE26 910 postcodes | 10 at 10 to 99 | 10 at 10 to 99 | 10 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 SE26. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (47% of days): under 1 a day at all 629 of its postcodes
- On a day it flies both ways (18% of days): up to 28 a day; of its 629 postcodes, 15 on an edge, 614 under 10
- On a day it flies east (35% of days): up to 61 a day; of its 629 postcodes, 20 on an edge, 609 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SE26 4193 postcodes | 193 under 10 | 1 on an edge192 under 10 | 4 on an edge189 under 10 |
| SE26 5185 postcodes | 185 under 10 | 185 under 10 | 185 under 10 |
| SE26 6241 postcodes | 241 under 10 | 4 on an edge237 under 10 | 6 on an edge235 under 10 |
| SE26 910 postcodes | 10 under 10 | 10 on an edge | 10 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.
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 SE26
SE23 SE20 SE19 SE21 SE6 BR3 SE22 SE27
The councils
- Lewisham: noise and liveability score
- Bromley: noise and liveability score
- Southwark: noise and liveability score
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.