AI 914 views on YouTube
His Plane Sank. He Swam Out And Waited In The Lake.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican from Wisconsin and his party's nominee for governor, was on a small plane that lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport on Saturday night, 12 September 2026. The pilot put it down on Lake Wausau.
Nobody was killed. All footage is licensed stock — no footage of the crash, the aircraft or the lake itself.
The spine
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisconsin), his party's nominee for governor, was on a small plane that lost power on approach to Wausau Downtown Airport on Saturday night, 12 September 2026. The pilot put it down on Lake Wausau. Both men swam clear of the sinking aircraft and waited in shallow water for a rescue boat.
In his words
"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."
"God was watching over us tonight, and I am incredibly grateful to be here in the hospital with my wife, Chris, by my side. An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is." — Rep. Tom Tiffany
Sources
- BBC News (Grace Eliza Goodwin), 13 September 2026, citing the Marathon County Sheriff's Office press release and Tiffany's own social-media posts.
How this was verified — the rest of the fact sheet
The facts
- Aircraft: Beechcraft K35 ("Bonanza"), single-engine, seats up to five. Two people on board — Tiffany and the pilot.
- He was flying home from a dinner in La Crosse County; the plane lost power on approach.
- 20:49 local — sheriff's office receives the 911 report of a plane crash on the lake.
- 21:05 local — a Wausau Fire Department airboat reaches them, about 15 minutes later.
- Both sustained minor injuries. Tiffany received a small cut over his right eye (per his campaign) and was in hospital afterwards.
- The plane remains in the lake; crews are working to remove it.
- The FAA and the NTSB will investigate. The cause of the mechanical issue was not immediately clear.
References
Reporting drawn from BBC News · Marathon County Sheriff's Office · Tiffany and the pilot
What the reel says
Narration as scripted and voiced.
A sitting American congressman swam out of a sinking plane on Saturday night, then stood in a lake and waited about fifteen minutes for a boat
He is Tom Tiffany, a Republican from Wisconsin. He is also, right now, his party's nominee for governor of that state
He was flying home from a dinner in La Crosse County. The aircraft was a Beechcraft K35, a single-engine plane that seats five. Two people were on board.
On the approach to Wausau Downtown Airport, it lost power. The pilot put it down on Lake Wausau
As the plane began to submerge, Tiffany wrote, "We exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat."
The sheriff's office logged the nine one one call at eight forty-nine in the evening. A fire department airboat reached them at nine oh five
Both men came out with minor injuries. Tiffany took a small cut above his right eye and spent the night in hospital with his wife beside him
"God was watching over us tonight," he said. "An experience like this reminds you just how precious life is."
The plane is still in the lake. Crews are working to pull it out, and two federal agencies now want to know why the engine quit
