NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Turkish Airlines plane made an emergency landing in New York City airport early Wednesday morning after the pilot died in the air, authorities said.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration confirmed in a statement that the plane landed safely at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York around 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday after one of the pilots suffered a medical emergency.

Yahya ÜSTÜN, Senior Vice President Media Relations at Turkish Airlines, wrote on X that Ilcehin Pehlivan, the Captain Pilot of the company's Airbus 350, operating the Seattle-Istanbul flight TK204, fainted during the flight.

Another pilot and a co-pilot made an emergency landing in New York after medical intervention to Pehlivan on the plane was ineffective. Pehlivan, 59, died before landing.

Pehlivan, who had been working at Turkish Airlines since 2007, had periodic health examination in March of this year, and no health problems were detected that would prevent him from working, according to ÜSTÜN.

The flight took off from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at 7:02 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the tracking service FlightAware. Enditem

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