Planes overhead in B16
Birmingham and Sandwell, West Midlands. All 454 of its postcodes measured (43 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
From Birmingham
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Birmingham flies, and that decides how many pass over B16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 38% of days
Up to 9
a day
Of its 454 postcodes:
- under 10
- 454
On a day it flies both ways, 24% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 454 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 454
On a day it flies east, 38% of days
Up to 21
a day
Of its 454 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 454
Each sector's bar splits its postcodes by how many planes pass over them a day; the figure above it counts those in the busiest band the sector reaches. The list above gives the whole district's counts.
| Sector | Flying west38% of days | Both ways24% of days | Flying east38% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| B16 0164 postcodes | 164 under 10 | 164 at 10 to 99 | 164 at 10 to 99 |
| B16 8162 postcodes | 162 under 10 | 162 at 10 to 99 | 162 at 10 to 99 |
| B16 9128 postcodes | 128 under 10 | 128 at 10 to 99 | 128 at 10 to 99 |
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. PO boxes and other postcodes for organisations that receive a lot of post are left out: they sit at a delivery office or a business, not at homes.
Near B16
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Birmingham. 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.