Planes overhead in B17
Birmingham, West Midlands. All 546 of its postcodes measured (10 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 B17. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 38% of days
Up to 7
a day
Of its 546 postcodes:
- under 10
- 546
On a day it flies both ways, 24% of days
Up to 13
a day
Of its 546 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 170
- under 10
- 376
On a day it flies east, 38% of days
Up to 18
a day
Of its 546 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 271
- under 10
- 275
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| B17 0193 postcodes | 193 under 10 | 19 at 10 to 99 | 40 at 10 to 99 |
| B17 8168 postcodes | 168 under 10 | 75 at 10 to 99 | 117 at 10 to 99 |
| B17 9185 postcodes | 185 under 10 | 76 at 10 to 99 | 114 at 10 to 99 |
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. 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 B17
B16 B15 B29 B67 B68 B66 B1 B18
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.