A Wisconsin Congressman’s Tale Of Survival After Terrifying Plane Crash

Wisconsin's race for governor got a jolt this month when one of its front-runners cheated death on a dark northern lake.

Wisconsin Rep. Tom Tiffany, 68, has represented Wisconsin's sprawling 7th Congressional District since a 2020 special election, after years in the state Assembly and Senate.

Interestingly, the man who grew up on a dairy farm and studied agricultural economics was actually born just across the river in Wabasha, Minnesota.

Today he's a Trump-endorsed candidate for governor, set to face Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in November. But on the night of Saturday, September 12, politics was the furthest thing from his mind.

On that night, Tiffany was flying home from a Republican dinner in La Crosse County, a routine trip in a small plane he'd taken many times before, when things took a terrifying turn.

The story of how he survived is the one that has left him very grateful and more than a little shaken.

A Routine Flight Turns to Terror

Tiffany was aboard a four-seat Beechcraft K35 Bonanza, a single-engine aircraft, with private pilot Leonard "Len" Boltz — a man Tiffany had flown with before.

The evening was ordinary right up until the final approach into Wausau Downtown Airport, around 8:45 p.m., when the engine suddenly went quiet.

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The pilot tried to restart it. Nothing. Realizing the plane couldn't possibly reach the runway, Boltz made a split-second decision that Tiffany believes saved both their lives.

"At that point, he just said, 'Hang on, Tom, and buckle up because we're going to go down,'" Tiffany recounted. "It was just real shortly after that, I would guess 10 seconds, we hit the water."

Ten Seconds to the Water

Boltz retracted the landing gear before impact — a critical move that kept the Bonanza from cartwheeling violently across the surface. The plane hit Lake Wausau, on the Wisconsin River, at an estimated 70 miles per hour, then came to rest in the dark water.

Both men managed to climb out and onto the top of the aircraft, where they waited about 10 minutes. As the plane began to sink beneath them, they made the call to swim for it, covering an estimated 100 to 150 feet until they reached water shallow enough to stand in.

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Boltz had already dialed 911, and the Marathon County Sheriff's Office says the call came in just before 9 p.m. A Wausau Fire Department airboat pulled the pair from the water around 9:05 p.m. The Beechcraft remained submerged in the lake, marked by a no-wake buoy while crews arranged its removal.

Grateful, and Back on the Trail

Both men escaped with only minor injuries and were released from the hospital. An emotional Tiffany, wiping away tears at a Sunday press conference, thanked the pilot and the first responders who came to their aid. "We're really fortunate that God was looking after us last night," he said.

The moment also drew a rare note of unity in a heated election year. Democratic opponent David Crowley said he was grateful no one was seriously hurt, praising the pilot's heroism in the terrifying situation.

Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating what caused the engine to fail. For Tiffany, the answer to that question can wait. He summed up the ordeal simply: "It was quite a night, quite a day, and I'm just grateful for the Lord for sparing us to see another day."