Planes overhead in M21
Manchester and Trafford, Greater Manchester. All 699 of its postcodes measured (28 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 M21. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 7
a day
Of its 699 postcodes:
- under 10
- 699
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 39
a day
Of its 699 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 629
- under 10
- 70
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 75
a day
Of its 699 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 699
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M21 0141 postcodes | 141 under 10 | 110 at 10 to 99 | 141 at 10 to 99 |
| M21 7194 postcodes | 194 under 10 | 194 at 10 to 99 | 194 at 10 to 99 |
| M21 8141 postcodes | 141 under 10 | 141 at 10 to 99 | 141 at 10 to 99 |
| M21 9223 postcodes | 223 under 10 | 184 at 10 to 99 | 223 at 10 to 99 |
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 M21
M16 M32 M20 M14 M33 M23 M17 M19
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.