Planes overhead in M28
Salford and Wigan, Greater Manchester. All 1,061 of its postcodes measured (60 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 M28. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 14
a day
Of its 1,061 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 29
- under 10
- 1,032
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 6
a day
Of its 1,061 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,061
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 1,061 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,061
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M28 0132 postcodes | 132 under 10 | 132 under 10 | 132 under 10 |
| M28 1259 postcodes | 259 under 10 | 259 under 10 | 259 under 10 |
| M28 2200 postcodes | 200 under 10 | 200 under 10 | 200 under 10 |
| M28 3313 postcodes | 29 at 10 to 99 | 313 under 10 | 313 under 10 |
| M28 7157 postcodes | 157 under 10 | 157 under 10 | 157 under 10 |
2 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
Over 432 of its postcodes, other flying passes too, from airfields, helicopters and airports we cannot check against official counts, so few planes from the airports we count does not mean a quiet sky there.
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 M28
M38 BL4 M29 M30 BL3 M46 M26 M41
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.