Rep. Tom Tiffany Survives Emergency Landing on Lake Wausau
Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin and the state's Republican nominee for governor, survived an emergency water landing Saturday evening after the small single-engine plane he was in lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport. NPR
Pilot Leonard Boltz set the plane down on Lake Wausau. Initial information points to mechanical failure, meaning an early report of an equipment problem. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the landing.
As the plane started to sink, Tiffany and Boltz got out and swam to a shallow area to wait for rescue by boat. The two men called 911 while standing on top of the plane. They were in the water for about 20 minutes before emergency crews found them.
Crews reached them in a fire department airboat, a flat-bottomed boat made for shallow water. PBS Both men were taken for medical care.
Tiffany needed stitches above his right eye and was released from the hospital. Boltz was treated for minor injuries and was also released. WSAW
Tiffany was flying home from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner in Onalaska. Both men survived with minor injuries. The plane was left in the lake pending the federal review, much like keeping wreckage in place until investigators can study it.
The broader context here is continuity for campaign professionals. A nominee for governor involved in this kind of water landing faces questions about personal health, travel procedures, and schedule. Release after emergency-room care answers the first question in part. It does not answer the second and third. Staff will need to plan for medical follow-up, recovery of the aircraft, and cooperation with investigators while keeping a public schedule of county-party events and fundraising travel.
Looking at what this means for the public record, the NTSB probable-cause process and the FAA review will control the factual timeline from here. The early report of mechanical failure is preliminary. Investigators will review maintenance records, pilot statements, air-traffic communications, and wreckage. For reporters and opposition researchers alike, the docket becomes the source of record. Statements from the men, emergency-response logs, and hospital-discharge information provide the interim account, but they do not substitute for findings.
