Cases and themes
Sightings reported by police officers, sheriffs and constables, often from patrol cars. 77 events, newest first.
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Open Police witnesses as a timeline
Military2 Feb 2026
The UK Ministry of Defence said drone incidents near defence sites doubled to 266 in 2025 and that the Armed Forces Bill would let authorised personnel counter drones there without police help. The plan was first reported in October 2025.
Photo: Tagishsimon, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings31 Oct 2025
Berlin Brandenburg Airport suspended takeoffs and landings for almost two hours after a drone was reported nearby, diverting a series of flights. Police sent a patrol car and helicopter; officers saw a drone but its operator was not found.
Photo: Roy Zuo, CC BY-SA 4.0
Government8 Oct 2025
Germany's cabinet approved a draft law letting federal police bring down drones that violate German airspace, including by shooting them in acute danger, and planned a police counter-drone unit. It followed drone sightings that disrupted Munich Airport; parliament still had to pass it.
Photo: H-stt, CC BY-SA 4.0
Military3 Oct 2025
Belgian broadcaster VRT reported that 15 drones flew over the Elsenborn army camp around 1:45 a.m. and were also seen by police in Dueren, Germany. Defence Minister Theo Francken's office confirmed an investigation; who flew them was not known.
Photo: Unknown photographer, Public domain
Sightings2 Oct 2025
Munich Airport suspended flights on the evenings of Oct. 2 and 3, 2025 after unconfirmed drone sightings, amid a wave of drone incidents across Europe; thousands of passengers were affected. Germany's interior minister promised faster rules letting police call on the military to shoot drones down.
Photo: Thomas Kniess, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military27 Sep 2025
Norway's Armed Forces and police reported two possible drones near Orland, home of the air force's F-35s, early on Sept. 27, 2025. Police, PST and the military investigated and set a 10 km no-fly zone; police said it was too early to say what was seen.
Photo: yetdark from Hamburg, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0
Sightings26 Sep 2025
Amid Denmark's wave of drone alarms, Billund, the country's second-largest airport, was briefly closed early on September 26, 2025 after a report of illegal drone activity. Police later said the object behind that report was a shining star in the sky.
Photo: Nico-dk, CC BY-SA 3.0
Government15 Dec 2024
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Department of Homeland Security to deploy a recently declassified radio-wave tracking system to identify drones reported over New York and New Jersey and their operators, noting state and local police lacked authority to track them.
Photo: U.S. Senate Photographic Studio/Jeff McEvoy, Public domain
Sightings14 Dec 2024
During the Northeast drone flap, Boston police responding to reports of a drone flying dangerously close to Logan Airport found two men on closed Long Island in Boston Harbor with a drone in a backpack. They were charged with trespassing; a third man was not caught.
Photo: David Wilson, CC BY 2.0
Government13 Dec 2024
During the late-2024 New Jersey drone sightings, Rep. Josh Gottheimer urged the FBI and DHS to let state and local police use equipment to safely bring down unauthorized drones, and asked for a public briefing on the reports.
Photo: Kristie Boyd; U.S. House Office of Photography, Public domain
Government11 Dec 2024
Senators Andy Kim, Cory Booker, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote to DHS, the FBI and the FAA asking for an immediate briefing on how they were working with police to identify the source of night drone sightings over New Jersey and New York.
Photo: Chetsford, Public domain
Government11 Dec 2024
After a Homeland Security and state police briefing for New Jersey officials, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia posted that the drones were up to six feet across, sometimes flew unlit and seemed to evade detection. DHS said there was no known threat.
Photo: Marion Touvel, Public domain
Government3 Dec 2024
The FBI's Newark office, New Jersey State Police and the state homeland security office asked the public to report sightings of possible drones, and a possible fixed-wing aircraft, along the Raritan River, saying reports went back several weeks.
Photo: Bjoertvedt, CC BY-SA 4.0
MilitaryDec 2024
Drones of varying size were reported around the U.S. Air Force's Ramstein Air Base in early December 2024, and an Air Force spokesperson confirmed the sightings. The base said it would monitor the airspace with German authorities. Police were then probing similar reports at Bavarian bases.
Photo: Beowulf Tomek, CC BY-SA 4.0
Government27 Nov 2024
UK defence minister Vernon Coaker told Parliament the Ministry of Defence takes safety seriously and keeps robust measures, including counter-drone capabilities, at its sites, as police investigated drones over RAF bases used by U.S. forces.
Photo: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0
SightingsAug 2024
In August 2024 police in Schleswig-Holstein reported repeated night drone flights over Brunsbuttel's chemical park and LNG terminal, up to five per night. Flensburg prosecutors opened an inquiry on suspicion of sabotage-related espionage; no operator was publicly identified.
Photo: Steffen Papenbroock, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings1 Jan 2024
A heavy police response to a New Year's Day brawl among teenagers at Miami's Bayside Marketplace set off viral posts claiming tall 'shadow aliens' were there. Miami police said there were no aliens, UFOs or power outages, and that the response was to the fight.
Photo: Phillip Pessar, CC BY 2.0
Media9 Aug 2023
Two weeks after his House testimony, The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein reported Virginia police records of 2014 and 2018 mental health incidents involving David Grusch and asked how he kept his clearance. A statement from Grusch cited PTSD; The Intercept said the records were public, not leaked.
Photo: U.S. House Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, Public domain
SightingsFeb 2023
In early February 2023 drone reports suspended operations at Dublin Airport on several days, diverting flights to Belfast and Shannon; on one day the airport later said no drone was present. Irish ministers met aviation officials and police, and a man was charged over an earlier January incident.
Photo: Skullical, CC0
Sightings19 Oct 2022
Bergen Airport, near Norway's main naval base, shut for about two and a half hours after drone sightings first reported around 4:15 a.m.; Forde airport also briefly closed. Police said they were sure of at least one drone, and Norway's security service took over the probe.
Photo: Varde / Avinor, CC BY 3.0
Sightings14 Oct 2020
A China Airlines crew told controllers they saw what looked like a person in a jetpack at about 6,000 feet, seven miles northwest of LAX, the second such report in two months. The FAA notified police and the FBI said it was investigating; no explanation was made public.
Photo: Alfred Twu, CC0
SightingsJun 2020
Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk, held for about 36 hours in December 2018 during the Gatwick drone hunt and never charged, sued Sussex Police for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment and were paid 200,000 pounds in compensation and legal costs.
Photo: Andy Mabbett, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings27 Sep 2019
Sussex Police ended their inquiry into the December 2018 Gatwick shutdown, saying 109 of 129 drone sightings came from credible witnesses and at least two drones flew. With no realistic lines of enquiry left, no culprit was ever identified.
Photo: Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Sightings8 Jan 2019
Heathrow stopped departures for about an hour after the Metropolitan Police received a report of a drone near the airport around 17:05 GMT. It came three weeks after drone sightings shut Gatwick; no drone operator was publicly identified.
Photo: Adrian Pingstone, Public domain
Sightings19 Dec 2018
Reported drone sightings over the runway closed London Gatwick from the night of Dec. 19, 2018 into Dec. 21, disrupting tens of thousands of passengers. Sussex Police called it a deliberate act, and the Defence Secretary confirmed the Army was brought in to support police.
Photo: Chris Sampson, CC BY 2.0
