Palmer Teen Wins Congressional App Challenge

Once again, young people from the Mat-Su Borough are proving they are innovative and answering the call to help solve real-world issues. Dalton Donley, a high school student in Palmer, recently took home the top prize in the Congressional App Challenge for his app, AK Bush Weather, a tool that could help keep bush pilots safe in the skies.

Dalton’s winning app, AK Bush Weather, is designed to help pilots make safer, more informed flight decisions in Alaska’s challenging aviation environment. The app conducts a risk assessment of weather conditions surrounding an airport and combines that data with pilot flight hours to generate a clear, easy-to-understand rating.

Congressman Nick Begich announced Dalton as the winner of Alaska’s Congressional App Challenge on February 3.

“Alaska depends on aviation like no other state, and safety is always paramount,” said Congressman Begich. “Dalton identified a real-world problem and applied creativity, technical skill, and compassion to help address it. AK Bush Weather reflects the kind of innovation and purpose we hope to see from Alaska’s next generation of leaders, and I’m incredibly proud to recognize his achievement.”

According to the press release, Dalton was inspired to create the app after the tragic loss of a family friend in a plane crash. Recognizing the immense responsibility bush pilots carry, he sought to develop a tool that could help reduce risk, improve situational awareness, and ease the mental load that pilots face when evaluating weather conditions.

“…Bush piloting, in a sense, carries a lot of responsibility, as usually there is only one pilot, and without the consciousness of that one pilot, things can go wrong really quickly and lead to death. My goal with this app was that if it was developed further, it could serve as a better way to track weather conditions and provide pilots with a safer way to evaluate if it is safe to fly or not, and ease the load on the already stressed pilot’s mind a little bit.”

In developing the app, Dalton had to tackle complex technical challenges, including decoding aviation weather data from the Aviation Weather Center, which delivers information in condensed aviation string formats. He also worked to design a meaningful rating system despite having little prior experience in aviation.

The Congressional App Challenge is a nationwide competition that encourages middle and high school students to explore coding, computer science, and problem-solving by creating original applications. Winners from each congressional district are recognized by their Members of Congress and select apps may be showcased in the U.S. Capitol.

The 2025 Congressional App Challenge marked another record-setting year for the program, as 394 members of the U.S. House of Representatives hosted App Challenges in their congressional districts, the highest level of participation in the program’s history, with more than 13,800 students from across the country participating, submitting over 4,600 original apps focused on real-world challenges ranging from health and accessibility to education, sustainability, and civic engagement.

The 2026 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now. For more information, please visit www.congressionalappchallenge.us/students