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A desperate search unfolded across a dark Wisconsin lake after Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany’s powerless plane plunged into the water and disappeared beneath the surface with rescuers unsure where he and his pilot had gone.
Dramatic dispatch audio captures crews calling for more ambulances, engines and boats as they raced to find the two men and tracked the last GPS location of a phone believed to be underwater.
“We’re going to be in search for a down plane,” one responder warned.
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Hours after leaving the hospital, Tiffany revealed Sunday that pilot Leonard “Len” Boltz had just seconds to react after the plane lost power on its final approach to Wausau Downtown Airport.
“Len said to me, ‘We are going down. Pull your seatbelt tight,’” Tiffany recalled during a news conference. “And that’s exactly what I did. I gave it a yank and pulled it good and tight.”
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“It was probably about 10 seconds later,” he added. “We hit the water.”
The impact sent Tiffany’s head into the dashboard, leaving him with a gash above his right eye that required 12 stitches. Boltz received four stitches for one of his injuries, Tiffany said.
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The two men checked on each other before escaping through the passenger-side door as the plane began filling with water.
Tiffany searched the cockpit for his phone but could not find it. Boltz still had his phone and called 911.
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They climbed atop the slowly sinking plane and waited there for roughly 10 minutes as emergency lights appeared around the lake.
As the aircraft slipped underwater beneath them, they began swimming toward the airport. They made it roughly 100 to 150 feet before Tiffany reached a high spot in the lake where the water was about five feet deep.
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“I said to Len, ‘Let’s just stay right here until help can come,’ because we could see the sirens,” Tiffany said.
His voice cracked as the gravity of the ordeal appeared to catch up with him.
“We are just really fortunate,” Tiffany said, pausing as he became emotional. “We’re really fortunate that God was looking after us last night.”
The dispatch audio revealed the uncertainty confronting first responders as they raced toward different points along Lake Wausau.
“Can you get another ambulance rolling this way and one more engine, please?” one responder said. “Also page SAFER mutual aid to Bluegill Park with a boat.”
Another responder reported that a witness had seen the aircraft go down but could provide only a general search area.
“I’m on scene with the reporting party,” the responder said. “He stated he did see [an] aircraft crash.”
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Crews carried thermal-imaging equipment and used a phone’s last known GPS coordinates to narrow the search. A landowner also provided a boat for deputies to use, according to the radio traffic.
“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.”
The tense search ended when rescuers announced that both men had been located.
“We have two victims in the water,” a responder said. “We’re just pulling them out now.”
Minutes later, a crew reported both were “alert, conscious” and confirmed everyone aboard the aircraft had been accounted for.
Tiffany credited Boltz’s experience with keeping the emergency landing from becoming deadly. The former Air Force pilot trainer raised the plane’s landing gear before touching down, preventing it from potentially cartwheeling 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.”
Tiffany estimated the plane was still traveling between 70 and 80 mph when it hit the lake, describing the impact as “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, a former military pilot, also praised Boltz for safely bringing the aircraft down at night.
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“The last thing anyone wants to do as a pilot is put the aircraft in the water at night,” Diny said.
Tiffany and Boltz were taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital and released after treatment. Tiffany said a CT scan found no apparent concussion, though doctors instructed him to watch for possible symptoms and avoid flying for several days.
Despite canceling a trip to Washington, D.C., Tiffany said he plans to return to the campaign trail 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.
The single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza remained submerged Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what caused it to lose power.
House Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated Tiffany’s return following the close call.
“Grateful to God no one was hurt in this accident and my good friend @TomTiffanyWI is safe and back on the trail!” Johnson wrote on X.
Tiffany represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and is running against Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in November.
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Crowley said he was grateful Tiffany and the pilot survived and praised Boltz’s actions.
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