A Wisconsin Republican congressman and his pilot are safe after a terrifying ordeal Saturday night that saw their small aircraft lose power and plunge into a lake, forcing the two men to swim for their lives before rescuers could reach them.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is currently running to become Wisconsin’s next governor, said he was flying home from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner when disaster struck. As the plane approached Wausau Downtown Airport, it suddenly lost power. The pilot had no choice but to bring the aircraft down onto the water of Lake Wausau.
What happened next turned into a race against time. According to Tiffany, the plane immediately began taking on water and started to sink before help could arrive.
“After landing, we called 911,” Tiffany said in a post on social media. “As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat.”
The Marathon County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the plane went down just before 9 p.m. and identified the pilot as Leonard Boltz. The aircraft has been described as a four-seat Bonanza. According to a timeline of the incident, the mechanical trouble began around 8:49 p.m., and a Wausau Fire Department airboat had both men out of the water within roughly fifteen minutes.
Dispatch audio captured an official at the scene relaying that the rescue boat was heading back with two survivors aboard. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and State Patrol also assisted in the response, and the Federal Aviation Administration has since taken charge of the investigation into what caused the aircraft to fail.
Both Tiffany and his pilot were transported to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries. In his account of the incident, Tiffany praised his pilot, the Wausau Fire Department and the other first responders for their swift action, and noted that his wife, Chris, was by his side afterward.
“An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is,” Tiffany said.
The frightening episode did not go unnoticed across the political aisle. Tiffany’s Democratic opponent in the race for governor, David Crowley, offered his own message of relief and support following the crash, saying he was thankful that Tiffany and everyone else involved emerged from the “horrifying incident” unharmed, and wishing both men a speedy recovery.
As of now, investigators with the FAA continue to examine exactly what went wrong with the aircraft’s power system during its approach to the airport. No further details on the cause of the mechanical failure have been released.
The incident adds a dramatic personal chapter to Tiffany’s ongoing gubernatorial campaign, though there has been no indication the crash will affect his candidacy going forward. Tiffany remains in the race against Democratic nominee and former state attorney general Xavier Becerra ahead of the November election.
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