Planes overhead in OL3
Oldham, Greater Manchester. All 587 of its postcodes measured (8 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 OL3. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 26
a day
Of its 587 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 586
- under 10
- 1
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 11
a day
Of its 587 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 66
- under 10
- 521
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Under 1
a day, at all 587 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| OL3 5275 postcodes | 275 at 10 to 99 | 275 under 10 | 275 under 10 |
| OL3 6132 postcodes | 132 at 10 to 99 | 1 at 10 to 99 | 132 under 10 |
| OL3 7180 postcodes | 179 at 10 to 99 | 65 at 10 to 99 | 180 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 OL3
OL4 OL5 OL1 OL2 OL8 SK15 OL6 OL9
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.