Waukee Northwest student flies plane filled with donations to hurricane victims

ANKENY, Iowa — Following Hurricane Helene, Waukee Northwest Senior Nate Fackler flew a plane loaded with donations to North Carolina.

“It first started when I saw a post of another Iowa pilot that was planning on going down and I actually work here at the airport, and that one of them was a drop-off donation for that pilot. And so I was working and just seeing donations come in and it was more of a like, Wow, I should probably do this,” Fackler said.

The donations included things like toilet paper, food, and baby diapers.

Fackler flew out of Ankeny Regional Airport making multiple stops to refuel on the way to North Carolina.

Fackler’s flight instructor Conner Yawn accompanied him.

“Friday night, he texted me and he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this. I need a buddy to go with me, another pilot’ and I said, I would be more than happy to go with you,” Yawn said.

The flights took around six hours each way and covered a distance over 700 miles.

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