drone flights over Philadelphia that day.

11:16 am

first takeoff; the last was at 10:39 pm.

11 min

median flight. Half were shorter.

Philadelphia police drones flew 10 times on Friday 2 January 2026, the first at 11:16 am and the last at 10:39 pm EST, by Philadelphia Police Department's published record.

10 drawable flights of 10. Each path is the whole flight, simplified; a flight with a sensitive stated purpose is drawn as an area.

One flight, takeoff to landingSensitive-purpose flight, as an area

Hour by hour

Takeoffs by hour, EST.

12a1a2a3a4a5a6a7a8a9a10a11a12p1p2p3p4p5p6p7p8p9p10p11p

Why, in the agency's words

Call for service70%
Training and testing20%
Other10%

Flights, in order

10 flights. Those in the latest full month link to their own page; a flight with a sensitive stated purpose has no page of its own.

Takeoff (EST)	Purpose	Airborne	Flight
11:16 am	Call for service	15 min	`671da277`
12:26 pm	Call for service	18 min	`b160bbcc`
1:20 pm	Call for service	11 min	`fc8ea5cf`
2:24 pm	Call for service	6 min	`8901a0c6`
2:40 pm	Other	11 min	`58b35cb8`
3:08 pm	Call for service	11 min	`bf4f12b5`
3:21 pm	Call for service	15 min	`3c024913`
4:02 pm	Call for service	14 min	`d1eb0c31`
6:43 pm	Training and testing	1 min 07 s	`b11e52a0`
10:39 pm	Training and testing	3 min	`fe494ef6`

How this page is made

Every flight in the agency's published record is counted and listed; drawn paths are the whole flight, takeoff to landing.
The record's free-text description is never read into a page. A flight whose stated purpose names a domestic, sexual-assault, kidnapping, welfare, mental-health or juvenile matter is listed like any other but drawn as a generalised area, not a path.
Operators are the agency's own accounts in the record, numbered within the agency in order of first flight; no name or address is read into a page.
Purposes are the agency's own words, grouped into classes by a fixed list of terms; unmatched values are "Other" and blank ones "Not stated".
Times are shown on the agency's own local clock.
A day is the agency's local calendar day of takeoff.

Corrections and questions: see the about page. See about this site for the sources and the publication rules.