Planes overhead in BL5
Bolton, Greater Manchester. All 691 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 BL5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 44
a day
Of its 691 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 691
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 28
a day
Of its 691 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 681
- under 10
- 10
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 16
a day
Of its 691 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 584
- under 10
- 107
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BL5 195 postcodes | 95 at 10 to 99 | 87 at 10 to 99 | 2 at 10 to 99 |
| BL5 2248 postcodes | 248 at 10 to 99 | 248 at 10 to 99 | 247 at 10 to 99 |
| BL5 3348 postcodes | 348 at 10 to 99 | 346 at 10 to 99 | 335 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 BL5
M46 WN2 BL6 WN7 M29 BL3 M38 BL1
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.