There are many reasons for emergency landings and diversions but one of the saddest ones is when someone onboard an aircraft dies. In this case, it was the captain of this Turkish Airlines flight.
Turkish Airlines Pilot Dies, Flight Makes Emergency Landing
Turkish Airlines flight TK204 took off from Seattle last night at 7:01PM and was heading back to Istanbul. They had to divert and land at JFK at 6AM this morning after their captain, 59 year old Ilcehin Pehlivan collapsed and first aid attempts were unsuccessful. At the time of the diversion, the flight was way north and had already passed the Northwest Territories and was about to go over the top of the Northwestern Passages so it took 4 hours after the crew decided to divert until they were able to land at JFK.
The cockpit crew, consisting of another captain and co-pilot, had decided to make the diversion but Captain Pehlivan passed away before they landed. He had worked for Turkish Airlines for 17 years and just had his annual checkup in August and there had been no issues at that time.
I feel very badly for the family, his co-workers, and the passengers onboard that flight as it is a difficult thing to know that this had happened.
Here is the statement from Turkish Airlines about this sad incident.
TK204 sefer sayılı Seatle- İstanbul seferini icra eden TC-LGR kuyruk tescilli Airbus 350 tipi uçağımızın Kaptan Pilot’u İlçehin PEHLİVAN, sefer esnasında baygınlık geçirmiştir. Kaptanımıza uçakta yapılan ilk doktor müdahalesi sonuçsuz kalınca 1 kaptan ve 1 yardımcı pilottan…
— Yahya ÜSTÜN (@yhyustun) October 9, 2024
