This story comes from the Wisconsin News Collaborative, a partnership of Wisconsin public media newsrooms, including WUWM, Wisconsin Public Radio, and WXPR.
Amid cloudy weather and surging winds, recovery crews removed the downed plane that was carrying a candidate for governor from the waters of Lake Wausau.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, is the GOP candidate for governor. He was flying between campaign stops on the night of Sept. 12, when the pilot told him there was engine trouble and they’d need to make an emergency landing on the water.
Both the pilot and Tiffany had minor injuries and were quickly rescued by Wausau-area first responders.
Nearly two days later, the plane was still bobbing in the lake until a multi-step recovery process started on Sept. 14, involving divers, tow truck drivers and local aircraft experts.
In a statement to WPR, the Federal Aviation Administration said local authorities were responsible for removing the aircraft.
The Marathon County Sheriff’s Office and other local groups successfully removed the aircraft from the water on Monday afternoon.
Wausau Fire Department Battalion Chief Kraig Kruzan, who assisted in Tiffany’s rescue, said the rescue mission was as close to a best-case scenario as you can get in this kind of emergency.
“Things could have been completely different,” he said of the water landing. “Another 150 feet, they could have hit land, which would have been a steep bank and not good.”
Kruzan said it’s rare for planes to go down on the water in the Wausau area, but the team regularly prepares for water rescues, deploying crews to multiple areas.
Over multiple hours, different experts worked to prep the aircraft for the removal from the lake — with the goal of taking it out in one piece, according to local airport officials.
Tiffany credited the pilot for pulling up the landing gear before hitting the water, which he said likely kept the plane from cartwheeling and may have saved their lives.
When the plane was lifted out of the water, the landing gear and wheels were extended down.
Now that the aircraft is out of the water, an FAA inspector will examine the plane, according to the FAA spokesperson.
“Investigations take months and sometimes longer to complete,” the agency said. The preliminary report can be found here.
The National Transportation Safety Board told WPR that the agency is awaiting an FAA examination of the plane, to determine if it meets the criteria for an NTSB investigation.
“Typically, the NTSB investigates aircraft accidents that result in substantial damage or serious injury,” the agency said in an email.
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