Planes overhead in SM5
Sutton, London. 706 of its 707 postcodes measured, the ones in Sutton, 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 SM5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 114 a day; of its 706 postcodes, 178 at 100+, 528 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 66 a day; of its 706 postcodes, 706 at 10 to 99
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 2 a day; of its 706 postcodes, 706 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SM5 1197 postcodes | 197 at 10 to 99 | 197 at 10 to 99 | 197 under 10 |
| SM5 2221 postcodes | 147 at 100+74 at 10 to 99 | 221 at 10 to 99 | 221 under 10 |
| SM5 3163 postcodes | 31 at 100+132 at 10 to 99 | 163 at 10 to 99 | 163 under 10 |
| SM5 4122 postcodes | 122 at 10 to 99 | 122 at 10 to 99 | 122 under 10 |
| SM5 93 postcodes | 3 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 | 3 under 10 |
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 SM5
SM1 SM6 SM2 SM3 SM4 CR4 KT4 CR7
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow. 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.