1. CityDroneWatch
  2. Pennsylvania
  3. Philadelphia
  4. January 2026
  5. 23

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · one day

Friday 23 January 2026

16 drone flights from Philadelphia Police Department's published record.

16

drone flights over Philadelphia that day.

10:18 am

first takeoff; the last was at 7:10 pm.

11 min

median flight. Half were shorter.

Philadelphia police drones flew 16 times on Friday 23 January 2026, the first at 10:18 am and the last at 7:10 pm EST, by Philadelphia Police Department's published record.

16 drawable flights of 16. 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

  1. Events44%
  2. Other19%
  3. Training and testing12%
  4. Call for service12%
  5. Traffic and crashes6%
  6. Patrol support6%

Flights, in order

16 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)PurposeAirborneFlight
10:18 amOther8 min1a0baab3
11:16 amTraining and testing10 min1bb29cdd
11:57 amTraffic and crashes7 minab14ad65
1:09 pmEvents6 mine1588165
1:09 pmOther8 min96b3e9fe
1:29 pmCall for service10 min696d10ef
2:09 pmCall for service11 minae8d4793
2:28 pmOther7 min7cc52c20
2:51 pmPatrol support11 min89fc18a0
4:43 pmEvents23 min307876cf
5:03 pmEvents20 mind3f23b66
5:32 pmEvents18 min80402c5f
5:45 pmEvents12 min7e80d1ab
6:11 pmEvents16 minfb426159
6:44 pmEvents17 mina67de0f0
7:10 pmTraining and testing2 minfb24a22a

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.