Planes overhead in WN5
Wigan and St Helens, Greater Manchester. 906 of its 921 postcodes measured, the ones in Wigan and St Helens (13 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 WN5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 37
a day
Of its 906 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 736
- under 10
- 170
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 21
a day
Of its 906 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 724
- under 10
- 182
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 11
a day
Of its 906 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 180
- under 10
- 726
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WN5 0188 postcodes | 187 at 10 to 99 | 185 at 10 to 99 | 188 under 10 |
| WN5 7234 postcodes | 65 at 10 to 99 | 55 at 10 to 99 | 30 at 10 to 99 |
| WN5 8230 postcodes | 230 at 10 to 99 | 230 at 10 to 99 | 50 at 10 to 99 |
| WN5 9254 postcodes | 254 at 10 to 99 | 254 at 10 to 99 | 100 at 10 to 99 |
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 WN5
WN3 WN1 WN6 WN4 WA11 WN2 WA12 WA3
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.