drone flights over Philadelphia that day.

11:36 am

first takeoff; the last was at 9:25 pm.

9 min

median flight. Half were shorter.

Philadelphia police drones flew 18 times on Friday 3 July 2026, the first at 11:36 am and the last at 9:25 pm EDT, by Philadelphia Police Department's published record.

18 drawable flights of 18. 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 service39%
Drone as first responder39%
Other11%
Patrol support6%
Training and testing6%

Flights, in order

18 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
11:36 am	Call for service	9 min	`0237d375`
11:48 am	Call for service	4 min	`81c500e3`
11:58 am	Call for service	6 min	`79e99f1c`
12:08 pm	Call for service	11 min	`5b363906`
12:24 pm	Call for service	6 min	`08057290`
1:01 pm	Call for service	21 min	`ee5a7113`
1:09 pm	Call for service	9 min	`c6b14d6b`
1:40 pm	Patrol support	19 min	`b8598cc8`
3:03 pm	Other	15 min	`7b76139d`
4:20 pm	Other	13 min	`de5c0e7f`
6:12 pm	Drone as first responder	15 min	`c5d989ea`
6:55 pm	Drone as first responder	12 min	`90a3d054`
7:08 pm	Drone as first responder	8 min	`713f5a6a`
7:16 pm	Drone as first responder	8 min	`a36f60c1`
7:45 pm	Drone as first responder	11 min	`a420b3f1`
7:59 pm	Drone as first responder	8 min	`6f770d2f`
8:11 pm	Training and testing	2 min	`a87c9c6e`
9:25 pm	Drone as first responder	6 min	`7559cbf1`

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.