Planes overhead in BL2
Bolton and Bury, Greater Manchester. All 1,137 of its postcodes measured (15 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
From Manchester
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Manchester flies, and that decides how many pass over BL2. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 38
a day
Of its 1,137 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 889
- under 10
- 248
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 18
a day
Of its 1,137 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 560
- under 10
- 577
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 9
a day
Of its 1,137 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,137
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 west70% of days | Both ways10% of days | Flying east20% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| BL2 1120 postcodes | 120 at 10 to 99 | 120 at 10 to 99 | 120 under 10 |
| BL2 2214 postcodes | 214 at 10 to 99 | 140 at 10 to 99 | 214 under 10 |
| BL2 3200 postcodes | 56 at 10 to 99 | 200 under 10 | 200 under 10 |
| BL2 4142 postcodes | 38 at 10 to 99 | 142 under 10 | 142 under 10 |
| BL2 5216 postcodes | 216 at 10 to 99 | 55 at 10 to 99 | 216 under 10 |
| BL2 6245 postcodes | 245 at 10 to 99 | 245 at 10 to 99 | 245 under 10 |
2 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 BL2
BL1 BL3 BL7 BL4 BL8 M26 M38 BL9
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Manchester. 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.