Planes overhead in M31
Trafford, Greater Manchester. All 262 of its postcodes measured (5 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 M31. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 48
a day
Of its 262 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 262
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 29
a day
Of its 262 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 262
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 22
a day
Of its 262 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 47
- under 10
- 215
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M31 4262 postcodes | 262 at 10 to 99 | 262 at 10 to 99 | 47 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 M31
M44 M41 WA14 M33 WA15 M32 M30 M17
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.