Wisconsin Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee for governor, gave a firsthand account Sunday of the small-plane crash that put him in the hospital a day earlier, telling reporters at Aspirus Wausau Hospital that a split-second decision by his pilot likely kept the accident from becoming far worse.
Tiffany, 68, was the only passenger aboard a single-engine Beechcraft K35 Bonanza flown by 73-year-old pilot Len Boltz. The two were returning to Wausau after Tiffany spoke at the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner in Onalaska when the aircraft lost power on its final approach to Wausau Downtown Airport and went down in Lake Wausau on Saturday night.
Tiffany appeared at the press conference with a bandage over his right eye, where he had received 12 stitches — the only visible injury from the crash.
According to Tiffany, Boltz warned him moments before impact: “We are going down, pull your seatbelt tight.” Tiffany said he did, and “about 10 seconds later we hit the water.”
Tiffany estimated the plane struck the lake at around 70 miles per hour, an impact that threw his head into the aircraft’s control panel. He credited Boltz’s quick thinking — retracting the landing gear before ditching — with keeping the plane from cartwheeling across the water, which he said likely spared both men more serious injury.
Once the plane came to rest on the surface, the two men climbed out through the passenger side and stood on top of the fuselage as it began to sink. Tiffany’s phone had been left inside the plane, but Boltz had his and called 911 immediately.
The men then swam roughly 100 to 150 feet east to reach a shallow sandbar. Rescue boats arrived about five minutes later and brought them to waiting ambulances for transport to the hospital.
Tiffany said the full weight of what had happened was still sinking in as he thought back on how quickly a routine flight home turned into an emergency. “It was quite a night,” he said.
Doctors have told him not to fly for several days, meaning Tiffany does not expect to be in Washington when Congress reconvenes this week. He said he still intends to keep campaigning and flying, and that he wanted to hold the press conference so voters would hear directly from him about what happened.
Reflecting on how the night could have ended differently, Tiffany said, “We’re really fortunate that God was looking out for us last night.”
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