Commercial Airline Pilot Dies Mid-Flight, Forcing Emergency Landing in New York

"He died before landing."

Emergency Landing

An Airbus flying from Seattle to Istanbul was forced to make an emergency landing at New York's John F. Kennedy airport around dawn today after its pilot died mid-flight.

As the BBC reports, Turkish Airlines claims that the 59-year-old pilot, named Ilcehin Pehlivan, was in good health and had had regular examinations prior to losing consciousness during the lengthy international flight. To make sure they're fit to fly, pilots have to have medical exams annually, and those over 40 have to renew their medical licenses every six months, the British broadcaster notes.

As an airline spokesperson told the BBC, the flight's crew "decided to make an emergency landing" when they were unable to revive him.

He reportedly died before the plane touched down, and although the cause of death has not yet been released, it must've been a terrifying experience for those on board the plane.

New York State of Mind

A similar situation required another emergency landing in the state of New York nearly a decade ago — though that time, the plane landed hundreds of miles upstate in Syracuse.

As the British broadcaster notes, an overnight flight from Phoenix to Boston in 2015 was forced to make an emergency landing in the northern New York town after its 57-year-old pilot died behind the wheel. During that debacle, the flight's first officer took over to execute the landing.

Though the name and title of the person who made the call and executed the landing in the case of this more recent tragedy have not been released, it's likely that the plane's first officer or someone of similar rank did so given that Federal Aviation Administration guidelines — and those of most of its global counterparts — require there to be two people in the cockpit at all times.

However, the European Union has, as the BBC notes, been looking into changing its two-pilot rule in the wake of new technology pitched by Airbus that allows single pilots to operate large planes while they're cruising at high altitudes.

That change would, per the EU's aviation agency's reasoning, allow crew members to sleep during lengthy flights — but should the pilot become incapacitated as in this Turkish Airlines fiasco, who knows what could happen.

More on plane nightmares: Flight Attendants in Boeing Disaster Feared Passengers Had Been Sucked Out Hole in Plane