Planes overhead in BL8
Bury and Bolton, Greater Manchester. 955 of its 963 postcodes measured, the ones in Bury and Bolton (46 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 BL8. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 26
a day
Of its 955 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 579
- under 10
- 376
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 12
a day
Of its 955 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 15
- under 10
- 940
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 8
a day
Of its 955 postcodes:
- under 10
- 955
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BL8 1296 postcodes | 263 at 10 to 99 | 296 under 10 | 296 under 10 |
| BL8 2249 postcodes | 249 at 10 to 99 | 15 at 10 to 99 | 249 under 10 |
| BL8 3214 postcodes | 49 at 10 to 99 | 214 under 10 | 214 under 10 |
| BL8 4178 postcodes | 178 under 10 | 178 under 10 | 178 under 10 |
| BL8 918 postcodes | 18 at 10 to 99 | 18 under 10 | 18 under 10 |
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 BL8
BL9 BL0 M26 BL2 BL7 M45 OL10 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.