Tom Tiffany and a pilot escaped with minor injuries Saturday night after their four-seat Bonanza lost power and made an emergency water landing in Lake Wausau. The Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial candidate said the plane was approaching Wausau Downtown Airport when the failure forced the landing.
The plane was coming in after Tiffany's appearance at the La Crosse County Lincoln Day Dinner, a detail that makes the crash part of the campaign trail as much as an aviation scare. He and the pilot quickly called 911 after hitting the water, then waited as the aircraft began filling and sinking before rescue crews could reach them.
Tiffany said the water landing was only the start of the ordeal. As the Bonanza began to submerge, he and the pilot got out, swam to a shallow area and waited there until emergency responders arrived by boat. They were pulled from the lake and taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where Tiffany said both were treated for minor injuries.
That sequence leaves the most basic question unanswered: what caused the plane to lose power. Tiffany thanked the pilot, the Wausau Fire Department and other first responders for getting them off the water and to the hospital, and said his wife, Chris, was with him there after the rescue. For a candidate who is already part of Wisconsin's governor's race, the close call now hangs over the campaign with more force than any routine travel delay. See more on the race in Elections Today in Wisconsin: Democratic primary sets up Tom Tiffany race.
