Rep Tom Tiffany is receiving hospital treatment after a single-engine Beechcraft K35 lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport and made a controlled landing on Lake Wausau on Saturday night. The incident left both the congressman, who is the Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor, and the pilot with minor injuries, the campaign and local authorities said.
The Marathon County Sheriff’s office reported the aircraft developed a mechanical problem as it neared the airport. After the plane went down on the water, Tiffany and the pilot called 911 and left the aircraft, then swam to a shallow area where they waited for rescuers, Tiffany wrote on social media. "As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat," he said.
Local emergency logs show a 911 report at 20:49 local time. A Wausau Fire Department airboat reached the pair about 15 minutes later, at 21:05 local time, and took them out of the water. Tiffany’s campaign said he sustained a small cut over his right eye; the pilot also suffered minor injuries.
The aircraft, described as a Beechcraft K35, remained in the lake after the rescue and emergency crews began work to recover it. Federal agencies will now examine the event. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are listed to investigate why the plane lost power while on approach, and will review maintenance, operational records and the on-scene timeline.
Officials left open the cause of the mechanical failure. In the immediate term the episode generated a medical response, an airboat rescue and a formal investigative record anchored to the 911 call and the timestamps from first responders. Recovering the aircraft from the lake will be a priority for investigators seeking physical evidence about the loss of power and the circumstances of the ditching.
