Newly released dispatch audio captures the urgent rescue of Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany and his pilot after their small plane lost power and made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau.
On Saturday night, Tiffany was flying home from the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner in Onalaska when the single-engine Beechcraft K35 Bonanza lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport. The pilot, identified as Leonard Boltz of Pearson, put the four-seat aircraft down on the lake around 8:50 p.m.
After landing they called 911. As the plane began to submerge, the two men climbed out, swam to a shallow area, and waited for help. Wausau Fire Department crews reached them by airboat within about 16 minutes of the 8:49 p.m. 911 call. Both were pulled from the water alert and conscious and taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital with minor injuries.
WISN 12 News political director Matt Smith shared initial dispatch audio and scene video Sunday morning.
“We have two victims in the water,” a dispatcher says. “We’re just pulling them out right now. Both are alert and conscious.”
Tiffany thanked the pilot, the Wausau Fire Department, and other first responders in a statement.
“They got us safely off the water and transported us to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where we received excellent care,” he wrote. “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.”
The Marathon County Sheriff’s Office said the aircraft remains in the water and would be marked with a buoy and asked the public to stay away. The FAA said it would investigate the incident involving the Beechcraft K35 with two people aboard.
Tiffany, the Republican nominee for governor who has been endorsed, faces Democrat David Crowley in November. Crowley publicly expressed relief that no one was seriously hurt and praised the pilot’s actions.
No further details on the cause of the power loss have been released.
