A Turkish Airlines flight traveling from Seattle to Istanbul made an emergency landing at Kennedy International Airport in New York early Wednesday morning after the pilot died, the airline and federal aviation authorities said.

The plane, an Airbus 350, took off at 7:02 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, according to Flight Aware data. The pilot, Ilcehin Pehlivan, lost consciousness during the flight, the airline said, and after unsuccessful attempts to revive him, a decision was made to land at JFK after about eight hours in the air. The plane, Flight 204, was over Baffin Island in northern Canada when it took a sharp right turn and headed for New York. It landed there at 5:57 a.m. Eastern.

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Pehlivan, 59, died before landing, the airline said, without specifying a cause. The airline said that he had had regular health examinations, including one in March of this year, and that no problems were found.

The airline said arrangements were being made to get passengers to Istanbul on other flights.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed the incident in a statement and said that “one of the pilots suffered a medical emergency.” The agency referred additional questions to the airline.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Victor Mather/Clark Hodgin
c. 2024 The New York Times Company