A 59-year-old Turkish Airlines pilot dies of a heart attack after takeoff on a Seattle-Istanbul flight. The plane was forced to make an emergency landing in New York. The passengers were unharmed
A Turkish Airlines pilot died of a heart attack shortly after takeoff on a Seattle-Istanbul flight last Wednesday. The 59-year-old pilot named Ilchehin Pahlavan was found unconscious by the rest of the flight crew who made an emergency landing of the plane at New York airport.
To reconstruct what happened on social media, the deputy director of communications of Turkish Airlines, Yahya Oston, wrote on . After first aid was inconclusive, the cockpit team of a pilot and co-pilot decided to make an emergency landing, but our pilot unfortunately died before landing.”
According to Turkish Airlines, for which Pahlavan had worked since 2007, the pilot was found to be in good health in his last health check, carried out in March.
For the Turkish carrier, this is the first pilot to die in service although similar incidents have occurred at other airlines in recent years. Among these, the American Inovie Air, the Indonesian Citylink and the Chilean Latham Airlines.
