Planes overhead in M38
Salford, Greater Manchester. All 331 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 M38. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (70% of days): up to 20 a day; of its 331 postcodes, 136 at 10 to 99, 195 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (10% of days): up to 9 a day; of its 331 postcodes, 331 under 10
- On a day it flies east (20% of days): up to 2 a day; of its 331 postcodes, 331 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| M38 076 postcodes | 1 at 10 to 9975 under 10 | 76 under 10 | 76 under 10 |
| M38 9255 postcodes | 135 at 10 to 99120 under 10 | 255 under 10 | 255 under 10 |
11 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
Over 56 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 M38
BL4 M28 M29 BL3 M46 BL5 BL2 BL1
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.