Thanks to the skill of a pilot, first responders from Wausau and perhaps some divine intervention, Tom Tiffany said Sunday he was fortunate to survive an emergency plane landing on Lake Wausau Saturday night.
Tiffany, the Republican nominee for governor, was being flown into Wausau Downtown Airport by Len Boltz, a trained Air Force pilot, after a day of campaigning in Platteville and La Crosse.
The plane, a four-seat, single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft, lost power on approach and Bolz decided to make an emergency landing onto the lake.
At one point, Boltz said to Tiffany, “We are going down. Pull your seat belt tight.”
About 10 seconds later, the plane hit the water.
In an emotional press conference on Sunday afternoon at the Wausau Downtown Central Fire Station, Tiffany said Bolz was able to pull up the plane’s landing gear before landing, likely preventing the plane from cartwheeling.
After safely landing, Bolz then used his mobile phone— Tiffany had lost his — to call 911 and summon local first responders as the two men waited on the plane, which was slowly submerging.
They were able to swim about 100 to 150 feet to a shallow point in the lake where they could stand in the water, and eventually emergency personnel rescued them by boat. They were taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital and treated for minor injuries.
Tiffany received 12 stitches above his right eye. Both men were released from the hospital.
Tiffany, flanked by the local first responders who saved his life, admitted the gravity of the situation was just starting to sink in.
“We are just really fortunate,” he said. “We’re really fortunate that God was looking after us last night. We’re also really fortunate that the first responders, those behind me, the fire department, the sheriff’s department, as well as the City of Wausau Police, for their quick response.
“We’re really fortunate for what they did, and I can’t thank them enough for helping us in this situation.”
Tiffany also thanked his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, for his earlier statement of concern on the social media platform X.
He also said he intends to continue his campaign for governor.
“This will not deter me and my efforts that I started a year ago to become the next governor of the state of Wisconsin,” he said.
“I signed up for the job to be governor of the state of Wisconsin a year ago. It was right here in Wausau a year ago that I announced, and I’m going to finish that job because there’s a whole lot of people in Wisconsin that are counting on me.”
