Planes overhead in BL6
Bolton, Greater Manchester. 962 of its 980 postcodes measured, the ones in Bolton (39 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 BL6. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 42
a day
Of its 962 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 232
- under 10
- 730
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 28
a day
Of its 962 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 199
- under 10
- 763
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 15
a day
Of its 962 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 140
- under 10
- 822
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BL6 4205 postcodes | 201 at 10 to 99 | 196 at 10 to 99 | 140 at 10 to 99 |
| BL6 5302 postcodes | 15 at 10 to 99 | 302 under 10 | 302 under 10 |
| BL6 6249 postcodes | 16 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 | 249 under 10 |
| BL6 7206 postcodes | 206 under 10 | 206 under 10 | 206 under 10 |
5 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
Over 279 of its postcodes, other flying passes too, from airfields, helicopters and airports we cannot check against official counts, so few planes from the airports we count does not mean a quiet sky there.
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 BL6
BL5 BL1 WN2 WN1 BL3 M46 BL7 WN6
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.