Planes overhead in M26
Bury and Bolton, Greater Manchester. All 836 of its postcodes measured (27 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 M26. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 42
a day
Of its 836 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 836
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 22
a day
Of its 836 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 812
- under 10
- 24
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 836 postcodes:
- under 10
- 836
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M26 1245 postcodes | 245 at 10 to 99 | 223 at 10 to 99 | 245 under 10 |
| M26 2176 postcodes | 176 at 10 to 99 | 176 at 10 to 99 | 176 under 10 |
| M26 3218 postcodes | 218 at 10 to 99 | 218 at 10 to 99 | 218 under 10 |
| M26 4197 postcodes | 197 at 10 to 99 | 195 at 10 to 99 | 197 under 10 |
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 M26
M45 BL9 BL8 BL4 BL2 M25 BL3 M38
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.