Planes overhead in SK1
Stockport, Greater Manchester. All 502 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 SK1. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (70% of days): up to 279 a day; of its 502 postcodes, 204 at 100+, 103 on an edge, 195 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (10% of days): up to 173 a day; of its 502 postcodes, 205 at 100+, 141 at 10 to 99, 135 on an edge, 21 under 10
- On a day it flies east (20% of days): up to 90 a day; of its 502 postcodes, 464 at 10 to 99, 26 on an edge, 12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SK1 1103 postcodes | 98 at 100+5 on an edge | 98 at 100+5 on an edge | 103 at 10 to 99 |
| SK1 266 postcodes | 56 at 100+10 on an edge | 56 at 100+10 on an edge | 66 at 10 to 99 |
| SK1 3165 postcodes | 39 at 100+51 on an edge75 under 10 | 40 at 100+64 at 10 to 9961 on an edge | 160 at 10 to 995 on an edge |
| SK1 4136 postcodes | 3 at 100+13 on an edge120 under 10 | 3 at 100+77 at 10 to 9935 on an edge21 under 10 | 103 at 10 to 9921 on an edge12 under 10 |
| SK1 932 postcodes | 8 at 100+24 on an edge | 8 at 100+24 on an edge | 32 at 10 to 99 |
On an edge: the postcode is on the edge of a flight path, where a few metres decide whether a plane counts as overhead, and the fewest and the most within 100 m of it fall in different bands.
8 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
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 SK1
SK3 SK2 SK4 SK5 M19 SK7 SK6 SK8
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.