Planes overhead in WN6
Wigan, Greater Manchester. 816 of its 921 postcodes measured, the ones in Wigan (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 WN6. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 70% of days
Up to 39
a day
Of its 816 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 296
- under 10
- 520
On a day it flies both ways, 10% of days
Up to 21
a day
Of its 816 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 210
- under 10
- 606
On a day it flies east, 20% of days
Up to 7
a day
Of its 816 postcodes:
- under 10
- 816
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WN6 0346 postcodes | 346 under 10 | 346 under 10 | 346 under 10 |
| WN6 7213 postcodes | 213 at 10 to 99 | 209 at 10 to 99 | 213 under 10 |
| WN6 8217 postcodes | 83 at 10 to 99 | 1 at 10 to 99 | 217 under 10 |
| WN6 940 postcodes | 40 under 10 | 40 under 10 | 40 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 WN6
WN1 WN5 WN3 WN2 BL6 WN4 BL5 WA11
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.