Planes overhead in OL4
Oldham, Greater Manchester. All 1,038 of its postcodes measured (10 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 OL4. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 25
a day
Of its 1,038 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 1,038
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 15
a day
Of its 1,038 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 836
- under 10
- 202
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 2
a day
Of its 1,038 postcodes:
- under 10
- 1,038
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| OL4 1196 postcodes | 196 at 10 to 99 | 196 at 10 to 99 | 196 under 10 |
| OL4 2227 postcodes | 227 at 10 to 99 | 181 at 10 to 99 | 227 under 10 |
| OL4 3176 postcodes | 176 at 10 to 99 | 135 at 10 to 99 | 176 under 10 |
| OL4 4214 postcodes | 214 at 10 to 99 | 119 at 10 to 99 | 214 under 10 |
| OL4 5225 postcodes | 225 at 10 to 99 | 205 at 10 to 99 | 225 under 10 |
3 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 OL4
OL1 OL8 OL5 OL2 OL3 OL9 OL6 OL7
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.