Planes overhead in WN5
Wigan and St Helens, Greater Manchester. 919 of its 934 postcodes measured, the ones in Wigan and St Helens, 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 WN5. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (70% of days): up to 37 a day; of its 919 postcodes, 747 at 10 to 99, 172 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (10% of days): up to 21 a day; of its 919 postcodes, 735 at 10 to 99, 184 under 10
- On a day it flies east (20% of days): up to 11 a day; of its 919 postcodes, 181 at 10 to 99, 738 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WN5 0196 postcodes | 195 at 10 to 991 under 10 | 193 at 10 to 993 under 10 | 196 under 10 |
| WN5 7237 postcodes | 66 at 10 to 99171 under 10 | 56 at 10 to 99181 under 10 | 30 at 10 to 99207 under 10 |
| WN5 8231 postcodes | 231 at 10 to 99 | 231 at 10 to 99 | 50 at 10 to 99181 under 10 |
| WN5 9255 postcodes | 255 at 10 to 99 | 255 at 10 to 99 | 101 at 10 to 99154 under 10 |
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 WN5
WN3 WN1 WN6 WN4 WA11 WN2 WA12 WA10
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.