Posted on 09/13/2026 9:13:51 AM PDT by DFG
Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee for Wisconsin governor, says he sustained minor injuries late Saturday when a plane he was traveling in was forced to make an emergency water landing.
Tiffany said in a statement on X that he and the pilot swam to safety after the light aircraft, which had lost power while approaching Wisconsin’s Wausau Downtown Airport, landed in Lake Wausau and began to submerge.
His Democratic opponent, David Crowley, said in a post on X: “I’m grateful to God that Congressman Tiffany and no one else was hurt in this horrifying incident, which could have been a tragedy if not for the heroism of the pilot.”
“I wish them and the Congressman a quick recovery and that they can find solace with their loved ones,” he added.
Tiffany said “an experience like this reminds you just how precious life is.”
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to the pilot, the Wausau Fire Department, and all of the first responders who came to our aid so quickly,” Tiffany said. “They got us safely off the water and transported us to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where we received excellent care. Thankfully, both the pilot and I sustained only minor injuries.”
Rescue teams were called to reports of a downed plane with two people in the water, emergency services’ radio communications obtained by NBC News indicate. Two survivors pulled out of the water were “alert and conscious,” the audio suggests.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it would investigate the crash of a Beechcraft K35 with two people aboard.
Tiffany represents Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and is endorsed by President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election.
Beechcraft V Tail Bonanza K35
More to the story? That Democrat seemed to be very ready with well publicized, politically correct utterances.
Isn’t that the “Doctor killer”?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but "Sink generally refers to a downward motion caused by gravity, often passive; submerge involves actively placing something below a surface, especially in liquid."
They were sinking, not "submerging." Unless, of course, his Democratic opponent was trying to kill him.
Article was written by “Samantha Cookinham” so what did you expect?
I want to meet Sam’s Sister-in-Law “Sarah Cookinbacon.”
Nah. I know it’s surprising when a democrat articulates decent and civilized views, but I think the sentiments should be credited at face value. I’m glad our guy is ok. It could be worse: he could have had to face down death like candidate Acton had to suffer through last week. I shudder to think of the trauma to her
/s
It kills arrogant lawyers too. Especially the ones who take their entire family along to show off the fact that they have at least a couple of dozen hours of total time and a wallet fat enough to buy the plane.
“Isn’t that the “Doctor killer”?
They fixed that problem long ago.
I will guess that lake water is chilly after the sun goes down.
A month from now, it will be chilly all day.
The Bonanza is a fine airplane but it has the limitation that you don’t fly it into a thunderstorm. But doctors and lawyers degrees trump the laws of physics at least until the forces of nature jerk the elevon off.
Grateful that Tiffany and no one else was hurt?
The V-tailed Bonanza had a whole host of problems not related to pilots ignoring the recommended rough air penetration airspeed:
...Most V-tail failures involved flight under visual flight rules into instrument meteorological conditions, flight into thunderstorms, or airframe icing.[34]
In addition to the structural issues, the Bonanza 35 has a relatively narrow center of gravity envelope, and the tail design is intolerant of imbalances caused by damage, improper maintenance, or repainting. Such imbalances may induce dangerous aeroelastic flutter.[32] Due to the anodic properties of the magnesium used for the V-tail ruddervator skins, they tend to corrode, often resulting in permanent grounding of affected aircraft because the problem can only be fixed by complete replacement of the skins or the entire empennage, and the required parts are no longer available.[35] The American Bonanza Society has issued a reward of $500,000 to encourage the development of aftermarket replacement skins under a supplemental type certificate.[35] Despite these issues, many Bonanza 35 owners insist that the aircraft is reasonably safe, and its reputation has resulted in reduced purchase costs for budget-conscious buyers.[34]
In January 2012, the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority issued an airworthiness directive grounding all Bonanzas, Twin Bonanzas, and Debonairs equipped with a single pole-style yoke and that have forwarded elevator control cables that are more than 15 years old until they could be inspected. The AD was issued based on two aircraft found to have frayed cables, one of which suffered a cable failure just prior to takeoff, and resulting concerns about the age of the cables in fleet aircraft of this age. At the time of the grounding, some Bonanzas had reached 64 years in service. Aircraft with frayed cables were grounded until the cables were replaced, and those that passed inspection were required to have their cables replaced within 60 days regardless. The AD affected only Australian aircraft and was not adopted by the airworthiness authority responsible for the type certificate, the US Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA instead opted to issue a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin requesting that the elevator control cables be inspected during the annual inspection.[36][37][38]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Bonanza#Accident_history
Sorry, I should have included the whole first paragraph:
The V-tail design gained a reputation as the “forked-tail doctor killer”,[27] due to crashes by overconfident wealthy amateur pilots,[28] fatal accidents, and in-flight breakups.[29] “Doctor killer” has sometimes been used to describe the conventional-tailed version as well.[30][31] However, a detailed analysis by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of accident records for common single-engine retractable-gear airplanes in the United States between 1982 and 1989 found that the Bonanza had a slightly lower accident rate than other types in the study. Pilot error was cited in 73% of V-tail crashes and 83% of conventional-tail crashes, with aircraft-related causes accounting for 15% and 11% of crashes respectively.[32] However, the study noted that the aircraft had an unusually high incidence of gear-up landings and inadvertent landing gear retractions on the ground, which were attributed to a non-standard gear-retraction switch on early models that is easily confused with the switch that operates the flaps. Models starting in 1984 use a more distinctive relocated landing-gear switch, augmented by “squat switches” in the landing gear that prevent its operation while compressed by the aircraft’s weight, and a throttle position switch that prevents gear retraction at low engine power settings.[32]
Article was written by “Samantha Cookinham” so what did you expect?
I want to meet Sam’s Sister-in-Law “Sarah Cookinbacon.”
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I cant believe that I am the first to comment on this witty post. Very funny. I have not watched the 3 stooges in 4 weeks, but always enjoy a good laugh.
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