Planes overhead in M16
Trafford and Manchester, Greater Manchester. All 846 of its postcodes measured (38 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 M16. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 4
a day
Of its 846 postcodes:
- under 10
- 846
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 18
a day
Of its 846 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 37
- under 10
- 809
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 38
a day
Of its 846 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 204
- under 10
- 642
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M16 0224 postcodes | 224 under 10 | 224 under 10 | 63 at 10 to 99 |
| M16 7191 postcodes | 191 under 10 | 191 under 10 | 191 under 10 |
| M16 8219 postcodes | 219 under 10 | 37 at 10 to 99 | 141 at 10 to 99 |
| M16 9212 postcodes | 212 under 10 | 212 under 10 | 212 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 M16
M21 M14 M32 M17 M20 M19 M33 M23
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.