Planes overhead in M32
Trafford, Greater Manchester. All 625 of its postcodes measured (54 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 M32. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 12
a day
Of its 625 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 10
- under 10
- 615
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 33
a day
Of its 625 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 379
- under 10
- 246
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 61
a day
Of its 625 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 468
- under 10
- 157
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M32 0258 postcodes | 258 under 10 | 36 at 10 to 99 | 105 at 10 to 99 |
| M32 8159 postcodes | 2 at 10 to 99 | 139 at 10 to 99 | 155 at 10 to 99 |
| M32 9208 postcodes | 8 at 10 to 99 | 204 at 10 to 99 | 208 at 10 to 99 |
1 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 M32
M17 M21 M16 M33 M41 M30 M14 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.