Planes overhead in WN4
Wigan and St Helens, Greater Manchester. All 604 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 WN4. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (70% of days): up to 39 a day; of its 604 postcodes, 1 at 10 to 99, 603 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (10% of days): up to 21 a day; of its 604 postcodes, 360 at 10 to 99, 244 under 10
- On a day it flies east (20% of days): up to 22 a day; of its 604 postcodes, 603 at 10 to 99, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WN4 0193 postcodes | 1 at 10 to 99192 under 10 | 4 at 10 to 99189 under 10 | 192 at 10 to 991 under 10 |
| WN4 8180 postcodes | 180 under 10 | 171 at 10 to 999 under 10 | 180 at 10 to 99 |
| WN4 9231 postcodes | 231 under 10 | 185 at 10 to 9946 under 10 | 231 at 10 to 99 |
1 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 WN4
WN3 WA12 WN5 WA11 WN2 WN1 WA9 WN7
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.