Rep. Tom Tiffany tightened his seatbelt. About 10 seconds later, the plane carrying the Wisconsin Republican candidate for governor struck Lake Wausau, leaving him bleeding as water began entering the aircraft.
By Sunday, Tiffany had left the hospital and was recounting his escape alongside pilot Leonard “Len” Boltz. Meanwhile, emergency dispatch recordings detailed the urgent search for two men whose plane had slipped beneath the dark water.
Both survived. Tiffany credited Boltz’s decisions in the final seconds before impact with helping make that possible.
Power Fails Seconds Before Water Landing
The single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza lost power on its final approach to Wausau Downtown Airport, Tiffany told reporters at a Sunday news conference.
Boltz had little time to prepare his passenger.
“Len said to me, ‘We are going down. Pull your seatbelt tight,’” Tiffany recalled.
“And that’s exactly what I did. I gave it a yank and pulled it good and tight.”
“It was probably about 10 seconds later,” he added. “We hit the water.”
The collision threw Tiffany’s head into the dashboard. A cut above his right eye required 12 stitches; Boltz needed four stitches for one of his injuries, Tiffany said.
Before attempting to escape, the men checked on each other. Then, with water entering the cabin, they climbed out through the passenger-side door.
Tiffany could not locate his phone in the cockpit. However, Boltz still had his and called 911.
Sinking Aircraft Forces A Swim Toward The Airport
For roughly 10 minutes, Tiffany and Boltz waited atop the plane as emergency lights appeared around the lake.
Then their temporary refuge began disappearing beneath them.
The pair started swimming toward the airport, covering approximately 100 to 150 feet before Tiffany found higher ground beneath the surface. There, the water stood about five feet deep.
“I said to Len, ‘Let’s just stay right here until help can come,’ because we could see the sirens,” Tiffany said.
As he described their survival, Tiffany paused and grew emotional.
“We are just really fortunate,” he said. “We’re really fortunate that God was looking after us last night.”
Dispatch Audio Captures An Urgent Search
While the men waited in the lake, responders faced a pressing problem: locating them.
Dispatch audio provided by Broadcastify captured crews requesting equipment and reinforcements as they approached different points along Lake Wausau.
“We’re going to be in search for a down plane,” one responder warned.
Another call sought additional medical help and a boat.
“Can you get another ambulance rolling this way and one more engine, please?” a responder said. “Also page SAFER mutual aid to Bluegill Park with a boat.”
A witness had watched the aircraft go down. Still, the account gave crews only a general area to search.
“I’m on scene with the reporting party,” another responder said. “He stated he did see [an] aircraft crash.”
Crews brought thermal-imaging equipment and worked from a phone’s last known GPS coordinates. Meanwhile, a landowner supplied a boat for deputies, according to the radio traffic.
Contact with the men had broken off, adding uncertainty about where they might be heading.
“I was talking to the pilots,” a responder said. “It sounds like they may plan to swim to the nearest shore after it went under, and then I lost contact with them.”
“I believe his phone is underwater,” he added. “They may be swimming south, I believe.”
Eventually, a radio call delivered the news crews had been waiting for.
“We have two victims in the water,” a responder said. “We’re just pulling them out now.”
Minutes later, rescuers described both men as “alert, conscious” and confirmed that everyone aboard the aircraft had been accounted for.
Tiffany Credits Pilot With Preventing A Deadly Outcome
Tiffany said Boltz, a former Air Force pilot trainer, raised the landing gear before the aircraft touched the lake. Leaving it down could have caused the plane to cartwheel across the water.
“He was savvy enough and quick enough to think about, ‘We’ve got to make sure and pull that landing gear up,’” Tiffany said. “He did that, and it might have saved us.”
Even with that precaution, the impact was severe. Tiffany estimated the aircraft hit the water at 70 to 80 mph, calling it “a fast-moving car crash.”
“We’re fortunate the plane didn’t flip,” he said. “I just take that to the skill of the pilot.”
Wausau Mayor Doug Diny, himself a former military pilot, also praised Boltz’s handling of an emergency made more difficult by darkness.
“The last thing anyone wants to do as a pilot is put the aircraft in the water at night,” Diny said.
Hospital Release And A Planned Campaign Return
Emergency crews took Tiffany and Boltz to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where both received treatment before their release.
Tiffany said a CT scan showed no apparent concussion. However, doctors told him to monitor for possible symptoms and avoid flying for several days.
He canceled a trip to Washington, D.C., but said he intended to resume campaigning Monday.
“This will not deter me in my efforts that I started a year ago to become the next governor of the state of Wisconsin,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson welcomed news of Tiffany’s survival in a post on X.
“Grateful to God no one was hurt in this accident and my good friend @TomTiffanyWI is safe and back on the trail!” Johnson wrote.
Although Johnson’s post described the accident as leaving no one hurt, Tiffany’s account detailed injuries requiring stitches for both men.
Tiffany represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and faces Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in November. Crowley also expressed gratitude that Tiffany and Boltz survived and praised the pilot’s actions.
Meanwhile, the Beechcraft Bonanza remained underwater Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what caused the aircraft to lose power.
