Planes overhead in OL6
Tameside and Oldham, Greater Manchester. All 869 of its postcodes measured (29 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 OL6. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 29
a day
Of its 869 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 373
- under 10
- 496
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 17
a day
Of its 869 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 258
- under 10
- 611
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 6
a day
Of its 869 postcodes:
- under 10
- 869
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| OL6 6219 postcodes | 25 at 10 to 99 | 10 at 10 to 99 | 219 under 10 |
| OL6 7157 postcodes | 157 under 10 | 157 under 10 | 157 under 10 |
| OL6 8255 postcodes | 178 at 10 to 99 | 120 at 10 to 99 | 255 under 10 |
| OL6 9238 postcodes | 170 at 10 to 99 | 128 at 10 to 99 | 238 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 OL6
OL7 SK16 SK15 OL8 OL5 M34 SK14 OL4
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.