Planes overhead in OL2
Oldham and Rochdale, Greater Manchester. All 1,079 of its postcodes measured (11 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 OL2. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 28
a day
Of its 1,079 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,079
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 13
a day
Of its 1,079 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 995
- under 10
- 84
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Under 1
a day, at all 1,079 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| OL2 5263 postcodes | 263 at 10 to 99 | 263 at 10 to 99 | 263 under 10 |
| OL2 6310 postcodes | 310 at 10 to 99 | 310 at 10 to 99 | 310 under 10 |
| OL2 7279 postcodes | 279 at 10 to 99 | 275 at 10 to 99 | 279 under 10 |
| OL2 8227 postcodes | 227 at 10 to 99 | 147 at 10 to 99 | 227 under 10 |
6 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 OL2
OL1 OL4 OL9 OL16 OL8 OL11 M24 OL3
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.