Planes overhead in BL6
Bolton, Greater Manchester. 1,000 of its 1,019 postcodes measured, the ones in Bolton, 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 BL6. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (70% of days): up to 42 a day; of its 1,000 postcodes, 239 at 10 to 99, 761 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (10% of days): up to 28 a day; of its 1,000 postcodes, 206 at 10 to 99, 794 under 10
- On a day it flies east (20% of days): up to 15 a day; of its 1,000 postcodes, 142 at 10 to 99, 858 under 10
The table counts the postcodes of each sector by how many planes pass over them a day: 100 or more, 10 to 99, or under 10.
| Sector | Flying west70% of days | Both ways10% of days | Flying east20% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| BL6 4209 postcodes | 205 at 10 to 994 under 10 | 200 at 10 to 999 under 10 | 142 at 10 to 9967 under 10 |
| BL6 5303 postcodes | 15 at 10 to 99288 under 10 | 303 under 10 | 303 under 10 |
| BL6 6258 postcodes | 19 at 10 to 99239 under 10 | 6 at 10 to 99252 under 10 | 258 under 10 |
| BL6 7210 postcodes | 210 under 10 | 210 under 10 | 210 under 10 |
| BL6 920 postcodes | 20 under 10 | 20 under 10 | 20 under 10 |
5 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
Over 309 of its postcodes, other flying passes too, from airfields, helicopters and airports we cannot check against official counts, so few planes from the airports we count does not mean a quiet sky there.
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.
Near BL6
BL5 BL1 WN2 WN1 BL3 M46 BL7 WN6
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.