Planes overhead in M40
Manchester and Oldham, Greater Manchester. All 1,366 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 M40. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 10
a day
Of its 1,366 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 2
- under 10
- 1,364
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 5
a day
Of its 1,366 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,366
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Under 1
a day, at all 1,366 of its postcodes
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M40 0142 postcodes | 2 at 10 to 99 | 142 under 10 | 142 under 10 |
| M40 1182 postcodes | 182 under 10 | 182 under 10 | 182 under 10 |
| M40 2190 postcodes | 190 under 10 | 190 under 10 | 190 under 10 |
| M40 3168 postcodes | 168 under 10 | 168 under 10 | 168 under 10 |
| M40 5150 postcodes | 150 under 10 | 150 under 10 | 150 under 10 |
| M40 7239 postcodes | 239 under 10 | 239 under 10 | 239 under 10 |
| M40 8159 postcodes | 159 under 10 | 159 under 10 | 159 under 10 |
| M40 9136 postcodes | 136 under 10 | 136 under 10 | 136 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 M40
M9 OL9 M24 OL8 OL7 M25 M14 OL6
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.