Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tom Tiffany escaped with minor injuries after the small plane carrying him lost power on approach to an airport and made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau.
Tiffany, a sitting U.S. congressman now running for governor, was flying home from a Republican fundraising dinner in La Crosse County on Saturday night when the four-seat Bonanza aircraft lost power as it neared Wausau Downtown Airport. The pilot put the plane down on Lake Wausau. Within moments, the aircraft began to sink.
Tiffany and the pilot called 911, climbed out of the submerging plane, and swam to a shallow area, where they waited until firefighters from the Wausau Fire Department reached them by boat. Both men were pulled from the water and taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where they were treated for what Tiffany described as "only minor injuries."
The congressman released a statement early Sunday morning, Just the News reported, describing the harrowing sequence in his own words:
"While returning home from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner, the plane I was traveling in lost power as we approached the Wausau Downtown Airport. The pilot made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau."
Tiffany went on to describe the moments after the plane touched down on the lake's surface.
"After landing, we called 911. 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."
He praised the care he received at Aspirus Wausau Hospital and expressed his "deepest gratitude to the pilot, the Wausau Fire Department, and all of the first responders who came to our aid so quickly." His wife, Chris, was at his side at the hospital when the statement went out.
In a line that will resonate with the Republican base he is courting in the governor's race, Tiffany credited a higher power for the outcome.
"God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side. An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is."
Tiffany's statement did not identify the pilot by name, and no cause for the engine failure has been disclosed. The congressman did not specify what minor injuries he or the pilot sustained, nor did his statement say whether he had been discharged from the hospital. Small-aircraft incidents of this kind typically draw investigation from federal aviation authorities, but no agency had publicly confirmed an inquiry at the time of the report.
The Bonanza is a single-engine, four-seat aircraft, meaning two seats were empty on the flight. Whether additional passengers had been expected or whether the lighter load played any role in the outcome is unknown. The status of the plane itself, whether it was fully submerged or recovered, was not addressed.
Small-plane accidents have made grim headlines in recent months. A charter plane crash near a remote Alaska radar site killed all eight people on board, and a separate incident saw a father and son killed in an Illinois crash that a grieving family member blamed on a weather-tracker glitch. Overseas, a skydiving plane crash near Nancy, France, killed all eleven aboard while families watched from the ground. Tiffany's water landing stands out precisely because both occupants walked away.
Tiffany had spent Saturday evening working the room at the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner, a staple of Wisconsin Republican politics. Hours later he was treading water in a sinking plane. The speed with which he issued a detailed public statement suggests the incident will not keep him off the campaign trail for long.
For a candidate asking voters to trust him with the state's top job, swimming out of a submerging aircraft and thanking God and firefighters from a hospital bed is not the worst way to make an impression. The pilot who put that plane on the water instead of into the trees deserves credit too, and a name, whenever one is released.
