drone flights over Philadelphia that day.

10:17 am

first takeoff; the last was at 11:02 pm.

11 min

median flight. Half were shorter.

Philadelphia police drones flew 19 times on Saturday 4 April 2026, the first at 10:17 am and the last at 11:02 pm EDT, by Philadelphia Police Department's published record.

19 drawable flights of 19. 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, EDT.

12a1a2a3a4a5a6a7a8a9a10a11a12p1p2p3p4p5p6p7p8p9p10p11p

Why, in the agency's words

Call for service47%
Not stated26%
Drone as first responder11%
Other11%
Training and testing5%

Flights, in order

19 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 (EDT)	Purpose	Airborne	Flight
10:17 am	Not stated	8 min	`27b9b88f`
10:45 am	Not stated	14 min	`53e775ff`
11:35 am	Not stated	8 min	`e0a9f524`
11:43 am	Drone as first responder	9 min	`b729567f`
11:53 am	Not stated	12 min	`cfcf80d6`
12:05 pm	Other	10 min	`54febef1`
12:35 pm	Not stated	9 min	`da4b5874`
12:39 pm	Training and testing	2 min	`1a9a5e75`
12:48 pm	Call for service	18 min	`254282bd`
1:46 pm	Call for service	10 min	`2128a43c`
2:04 pm	Drone as first responder	17 min	`a2d5a0fc`
2:35 pm	Call for service	6 min	`4f642c9b`
2:50 pm	Other	1 min 11 s	`cd574e9c`
8:26 pm	Call for service	14 min	`5a177f57`
9:34 pm	Call for service	12 min	`2fb39b69`
9:59 pm	Call for service	13 min	`99d4f5ad`
10:13 pm	Call for service	14 min	`b57721de`
10:45 pm	Call for service	16 min	`d924b084`
11:02 pm	Call for service	11 min	`35183d14`

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.