FAA drone sighting reports, July–September 2026 (FY26 Q4)
Reported sightings, not verified incidents
Reports may come from pilots, citizens or law enforcement. The unit is an FAA source row, not a confirmed drone or unique event. Repeated reports and corrections may concern one event; exact duplicate rows remain included. Laser-only rows without a UAS term are excluded. Keyword inclusion can retain ambiguity.
By month
| Month | Report rows |
|---|---|
| 2026-07 | 207 |
| 2026-08 | 182 |
| 2026-09 | 177 |
By state or territory label
| State / territory label | 2026-07 | 2026-08 | 2026-09 | All months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALABAMA | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| ALASKA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| ARIZONA | 3 | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| ARKANSAS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| CALIFORNIA | 30 | 27 | 31 | 88 |
| COLORADO | 7 | 5 | 4 | 16 |
| CONNECTICUT | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | 1 | 1 | 7 | 9 |
| FLORIDA | 19 | 12 | 11 | 42 |
| GEORGIA | 6 | 6 | 11 | 23 |
| HAWAII | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| IDAHO | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| ILLINOIS | 15 | 9 | 11 | 35 |
| INDIANA | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| IOWA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| KANSAS | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| KENTUCKY | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| LOUISIANA | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Louisiana | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| MAINE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MARYLAND | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| MASSACHUSETTS | 8 | 10 | 0 | 18 |
| MICHIGAN | 10 | 6 | 7 | 23 |
| MINNESOTA | 0 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| MISSISSIPPI | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| MISSOURI | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| NEBRASKA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| NEVADA | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| NEW HAMPSHIRE | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| NEW JERSEY | 8 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
| NEW YORK | 21 | 15 | 6 | 42 |
| NORTH CAROLINA | 2 | 4 | 11 | 17 |
| NORTH DAKOTA | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| OHIO | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| OKLAHOMA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| OREGON | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| PENNSYLVANIA | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 |
| PR | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Puerto Rico | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| RHODE ISLAND | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| SOUTH CAROLINA | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| TENNESSEE | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 |
| TEXAS | 18 | 20 | 17 | 55 |
| Texas | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| UTAH | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| VERMONT | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| VIRGINIA | 6 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| WASHINGTON | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| WEST VIRGINIA | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| WISCONSIN | 5 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
Top 20 city/area labels per month
Exactly 20 groups per month, ordered by count, then source state/city label. Variants remain separate.
2026-07
| City / area as reported | State / territory label | Report rows |
|---|---|---|
| NEW YORK | NEW YORK | 12 |
| CHICAGO | ILLINOIS | 11 |
| LOS ANGELES | CALIFORNIA | 7 |
| DENVER | COLORADO | 7 |
| SAN DIEGO | CALIFORNIA | 6 |
| ATLANTA | GEORGIA | 6 |
| FORT LAUDERDALE | FLORIDA | 5 |
| HOUSTON | TEXAS | 5 |
| DETROIT | MICHIGAN | 4 |
| LAS VEGAS | NEVADA | 4 |
| NEWARK | NEW JERSEY | 4 |
| BUFFALO | NEW YORK | 4 |
| DALLAS-FORT WORTH | TEXAS | 4 |
| PHOENIX | ARIZONA | 3 |
| SAN JOSE | CALIFORNIA | 3 |
| VAN NUYS | CALIFORNIA | 3 |
| ORLANDO | FLORIDA | 3 |
| BEDFORD | MASSACHUSETTS | 3 |
| FARMINGDALE | NEW YORK | 3 |
| DALLAS | TEXAS | 3 |
2026-08
| City / area as reported | State / territory label | Report rows |
|---|---|---|
| NEW YORK | NEW YORK | 9 |
| HOUSTON | TEXAS | 8 |
| CHICAGO | ILLINOIS | 7 |
| ATLANTA | GEORGIA | 5 |
| BOSTON | MASSACHUSETTS | 5 |
| DENVER | COLORADO | 4 |
| MINNEAPOLIS | MINNESOTA | 4 |
| LOS ANGELES | CALIFORNIA | 3 |
| VAN NUYS | CALIFORNIA | 3 |
| MIAMI | FLORIDA | 3 |
| BATON ROUGE | LOUISIANA | 3 |
| DETROIT | MICHIGAN | 3 |
| ST LOUIS | MISSOURI | 3 |
| WHITE PLAINS | NEW YORK | 3 |
| PROVIDENCE | RHODE ISLAND | 3 |
| AUSTIN | TEXAS | 3 |
| DALLAS-FORT WORTH | TEXAS | 3 |
| FORT WORTH | TEXAS | 3 |
| SEATTLE | WASHINGTON | 3 |
| CONCORD | CALIFORNIA | 2 |
2026-09
| City / area as reported | State / territory label | Report rows |
|---|---|---|
| ATLANTA | GEORGIA | 10 |
| CHICAGO | ILLINOIS | 9 |
| WASHINGTON | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | 7 |
| SAN FRANCISCO | CALIFORNIA | 6 |
| DETROIT | MICHIGAN | 5 |
| MINNEAPOLIS | MINNESOTA | 5 |
| DALLAS | TEXAS | 5 |
| PHOENIX | ARIZONA | 4 |
| DENVER | COLORADO | 4 |
| BAKERSFIELD | CALIFORNIA | 3 |
| SAN DIEGO | CALIFORNIA | 3 |
| SARASOTA/BRADENTON | FLORIDA | 3 |
| KANSAS CITY | MISSOURI | 3 |
| SALT LAKE CITY | UTAH | 3 |
| MOBILE | ALABAMA | 2 |
| LOS ANGELES | CALIFORNIA | 2 |
| OAKLAND | CALIFORNIA | 2 |
| ONTARIO | CALIFORNIA | 2 |
| VAN NUYS | CALIFORNIA | 2 |
| BRIDGEPORT | CONNECTICUT | 2 |
What these counts mean
Source rows: 568; included: 566; laser-only excluded: 2; other non-UAS excluded: 0; exact full-row duplicate excess: 1. Unique events and verified drone incidents: not established.
City and state labels are copied from structured FAA fields, including spelling/case variants. They do not establish an event airport or exact event location. Slash-separated labels are source city/area labels, not flight routes. No airport totals are inferred.
Quarterly reports arrive with a delay. Row dates have no established timezone. Processing time is not an event or source-publication time. Counts measure reporting, not prevalence or risk; absence of reports is not absence of drones.
Source and processing
SHA-256: 7e0995a2c714041994302b3ad7784db7994cf811bc34d9c76e8beec641aa3e83
Processed: 2026-10-15T17:24:31.132545+00:00
Download derived counts
Derived counts: CC BY 4.0, DroneLedger. Source: FAA, US government material.