Senator Makes Emergency Landing After Engine Failure

Sen. Tim Sheehy walked away unhurt Friday after putting his small plane down in a Montana field when the engine quit midair, authorities say. The first-term Republican was flying with one other person near the town of Ennis during what his chief of staff described on X as a twice-yearly "routine flight training exercise," NBC News reports. The aircraft suffered a mechanical engine failure, prompting the emergency landing; both occupants were unharmed, though officials reported a minor fuel leak. Federal aviation authorities have been notified, and the incident is under review.

Sheehy, 40, is listed on his Senate website as an FAA-certified commercial pilot and flight instructor. He founded Bridger Aerospace in 2014 and flew as "a carded Air Attack and Water Bomber pilot across the American West for over a decade," according to the website.

• This isn't his first aviation incident: In 2019, he was in a plane that crashed into a Florida home, killing an instructor and injuring a teenager inside; Sheehy, who had minor injuries, told investigators he was not at the controls. A former Navy SEAL who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, Sheehy defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in the 2024 election. His office declined further comment beyond the chief of staff's statement.