Planes overhead in M28
Salford and Wigan, Greater Manchester. All 1,121 of its postcodes measured, 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 M28. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (70% of days): up to 14 a day; of its 1,121 postcodes, 29 at 10 to 99, 1,092 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (10% of days): up to 6 a day; of its 1,121 postcodes, 1,121 under 10
- On a day it flies east (20% of days): up to 1 a day; of its 1,121 postcodes, 1,121 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M28 0133 postcodes | 133 under 10 | 133 under 10 | 133 under 10 |
| M28 1261 postcodes | 261 under 10 | 261 under 10 | 261 under 10 |
| M28 2208 postcodes | 208 under 10 | 208 under 10 | 208 under 10 |
| M28 3319 postcodes | 29 at 10 to 99290 under 10 | 319 under 10 | 319 under 10 |
| M28 7158 postcodes | 158 under 10 | 158 under 10 | 158 under 10 |
| M28 842 postcodes | 42 under 10 | 42 under 10 | 42 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 433 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 M28
M38 BL4 M29 M30 BL3 M46 M26 M17
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.