A pilot has died after his plane crashed while trying to land at a Rhode Island airport close to Taylor Swift’s holiday mansion.
The single-engine Cessna 172 propeller plane crashed in a field close to Westerly State Airport on Monday, killing the male pilot, who was the only person onboard, WPRI reported.
The airport is just a five-minute drive from Watch Hill, where Swift, 36, owns an eight-bedroom mansion.
“It was the loudest bang I’ve ever heard in my life. I thought something fell off of a truck,” nearby resident Kerry Vacca told WPRI.
Investigators believe the plane was coming in for a landing when the pilot had to change course. The wreckage was found at the wooded edge of an open field on the side of the road opposite the airport.
The skies were clear and calm at the time of the incident.
The unidentified certified flight instructor — said to be in his 20s — was rushed to Westerly Hospital and later pronounced dead.
The crash is under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Monday’s crash was the first fatal accident at Westerly State Airport since Nov. 16, 2003, when a Cessna 180 collided midair with a Piper PA-28-181.
Taylor Swift’s beachside enclave was previously the scene of another grim discovery when human remains washed up on a beach nearby in May 2025.