Planes overhead in BL9
Bury and Rochdale, Greater Manchester. 1,294 of its 1,302 postcodes measured, the ones in Bury and Rochdale (31 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 BL9. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 40
a day
Of its 1,294 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,157
- under 10
- 137
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 21
a day
Of its 1,294 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 436
- under 10
- 858
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 1,294 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,294
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| BL9 0158 postcodes | 158 at 10 to 99 | 2 at 10 to 99 | 158 under 10 |
| BL9 5167 postcodes | 80 at 10 to 99 | 167 under 10 | 167 under 10 |
| BL9 6265 postcodes | 215 at 10 to 99 | 265 under 10 | 265 under 10 |
| BL9 7243 postcodes | 243 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 | 243 under 10 |
| BL9 8198 postcodes | 198 at 10 to 99 | 198 at 10 to 99 | 198 under 10 |
| BL9 9263 postcodes | 263 at 10 to 99 | 233 at 10 to 99 | 263 under 10 |
3 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 BL9
BL8 OL10 M26 M45 BL0 M25 BL2 M24
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.