Zach Lahn is running for governor on an “Iowa First” platform. Over eight months, an aircraft tied to his LLC made 38 trips to Kansas, roughly once a week, spending nearly a third of its nights there. This project tracks the aircraft, not any individual.
This project independently logged every flight the aircraft tied to Lahn's LLC made over eight months. Counting only the nights it was in Iowa or Kansas, more than a third were spent in Kansas, while he campaigned on an “Iowa First” platform.
In May 2026 the Des Moines Register reported that the plane Lahn owns through an LLC had made dozens of trips to Wichita, Kansas. Working from the same kind of publicly available flight data, this project independently logged every flight the aircraft made from October 1, 2025 onward, replaying each one to confirm its direction, and will keep the count current through Iowa's November 3 general election.
The figures here are this project's own tally, not the Register's. They will differ slightly from any single news report because they cover a longer window and count every leg directly.
Counts reflect flights verified by replaying publicly available tracking data. Lahn has said he is not always the pilot; this project tracks the movements of the aircraft, not any individual. Nights spent in states other than Iowa or Kansas (21 in total) are excluded from the two-state comparison.
That's what Lahn told the Des Moines Register about what would change if he's elected. He also said he considers himself a full-time Iowa resident, and that the flights are to see children from his and his wife's previous marriages who live in Kansas.
This project takes no position on his family. It simply documents where the plane goes, using records anyone can look up.
Flight movements are logged from publicly available aviation tracking data broadcast by aircraft transponders and collected by volunteer receiver networks. The baseline figure of 37 Kansas flights (Oct 1, 2025 to April 2026) was first reported by Brianne Pfannenstiel of the Des Moines Register. Flights after that date are documented independently and verified against tracking records.
We report the movements of the aircraft, not the personal whereabouts of any individual. This site is independently operated and is not affiliated with, authorized by, or coordinated with any campaign, candidate, party, or committee.