A tragic ending occurred on board Turkish Airlines flight TK204 when Captain Ilcehin Pehlivan suddenly collapsed during the journey from Seattle to Istanbul. Despite the crew’s attempts to assist him, the commander passed away at 6 a.m. this morning before the emergency landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
The flight, which took off from Seattle on Tuesday evening, underwent a dramatic detour after Pehlivan fell ill in the cockpit. The second pilot and the co-pilot had to take control of the aircraft and decided to make an emergency landing to save the life of the 59-year-old, but they were unable to do so.
Turkish Airlines, in an official statement published on platform X by spokesperson Yahya Üstün, expressed their sorrow over the captain’s death, noting that he had been a respected member of the airline since 2007.
“At Turkish Airlines, we deeply feel the loss of our captain and extend our sincerest condolences to his bereaved family, colleagues,and all his loved ones”.
Pehlivan, who had passed routine health checks in March without any issues, did not present any medical conditions that could explain what happened. The exact cause of death has not yet been disclosed, but investigations are still ongoing.
This incident follows another dramatic episode that occurred during a flight in the United States. A woman had to take control of a private aircraft after her husband suffered a heart attack. Yvonne Kinane-Wells, without any formal training, successfully landed the plane with assistance from air traffic control.
