Emergency message in New York after pilot dies mid-flight

Pilot İlçehin Pehlivan, 59, lost consciousness sometime after Flight 204 took off from Seattle on Tuesday night, Turkish Airlines spokesman Yahya Üstün said in a statement.

Medical intervention failed to revive the captain, and the co-pilot decided to make an emergency landing, but the captain died before the plane landed, Mr. Üstün said.

Data from the tracking site FlightAware shows that the Airbus A350 landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly before 6am.

Arrangements have been made for passengers to reach their destination from New York, the airline’s spokesperson explained.

Mr. Pehlivan had worked for Turkish Airlines since 2007, Mr. Üstün said. A routine health checkup in March revealed no health problems that would prevent him from working, he said.

“As Turkish Airlines, we deeply feel the loss of our captain and offer our deepest condolences to his family who lost his colleagues and all those who loved him, ” he concluded in a press release.