Sheehy safe after making emergency landing in field near Ennis

U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, Montana’s junior senator, made an emergency landing in a field near Ennis on Friday as the Madison County Sheriff’s Office reports that he and another passenger were unharmed.

The Sheriff’s Office said Sheehy was piloting the privately operated plane and two people were on board.

Emergency and first responders arrived at the scene and secured the area. They noticed a small fuel leak after the landing and “responding personnel quickly contained and remediated the situation.”

“There is no ongoing risk to public safety,” Jennifer Martens, the public information officer for Madison County, said in a press release.

The Daily Montanan sent questions to Sheehy’s office, but there was no immediate response.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office said the incident remains under review and federal aviation authorities are investigating the emergency landing.

Sheehy is a certified flight instructor, former U.S. Navy SEAL, and was an aerial firefighting pilot.

Friday’s emergency landing is not the first close-call landing for the freshman Republican senator.

Sheehy had been involved in a February 2019 crash in Winter Haven, Florida, that killed another passenger and Sheehy’s flight instructor. Sheehy — at that point he had more than 800 hours of commercial flying time, according to reports — and the National Transportation Safety Board eventually blamed the flight instructor for attempting to simulate a low-altitude engine failure, something not recommended because of its risk.

After the incident, Sheehy credited the neighbors who lived in the area around the crash for their heroics.