Planes overhead in WS1
Walsall, West Midlands. All 551 of its postcodes measured (71 PO boxes and other large-user postcodes left out), January to August 2026.
From Birmingham
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Birmingham flies, and that decides how many pass over WS1. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
On a day it flies west, 38% of days
Up to 1
a day
Of its 551 postcodes:
- under 10
- 551
On a day it flies both ways, 24% of days
Up to 13
a day
Of its 551 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 438
- under 10
- 113
On a day it flies east, 38% of days
Up to 19
a day
Of its 551 postcodes:
- 10 to 99
- 541
- under 10
- 10
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 west38% of days | Both ways24% of days | Flying east38% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| WS1 184 postcodes | 84 under 10 | 84 at 10 to 99 | 84 at 10 to 99 |
| WS1 2155 postcodes | 155 under 10 | 111 at 10 to 99 | 153 at 10 to 99 |
| WS1 3175 postcodes | 175 under 10 | 113 at 10 to 99 | 167 at 10 to 99 |
| WS1 4117 postcodes | 117 under 10 | 110 at 10 to 99 | 117 at 10 to 99 |
| WS1 920 postcodes | 20 under 10 | 20 at 10 to 99 | 20 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 WS1
WS5 WS2 WS4 WS10 WS3 B71 WS9 WV12
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Birmingham. 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.