With the quantity of people that fly day by day, some folks do (tragically) move away within the skies. Nonetheless, one demise yesterday was significantly noteworthy, because it was the captain of a flight.
Turkish A350 captain passes away on Seattle to Istanbul flight
As reported by The Aviation Herald, this incident occurred on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, and entails Turkish Airways flight TK204, scheduled to fly from Seattle (SEA) to Istanbul (IST). The flight was operated by a model new Airbus A350-900 with the license plate TC-LGR.
A number of hours into the flight, the captain reportedly turned unconscious. The crew tried to get medical professionals to assist, however they have been unsuccessful, and he handed away. In consequence, the opposite two pilots made the choice to divert the flight, so it ended up touchdown in New York (JFK), after fairly the journey (extra on that in a bit).
Beneath you possibly can hear slightly little bit of the communication between air site visitors controllers and pilots, because the jet approached New York, due to VASAviation.
The airline states that the captain was 59 years outdated, and had been on the airline since 2007. He had his final medical examination a number of months in the past on the service’s medical heart, and no well being issues have been detected, which might forestall him from working.
Per the assertion, “because the Turkish Airways household, we want God’s mercy upon our captain and persistence to his grieving household, all his colleagues and family members.”
How extremely unhappy, as 59 years isn’t outdated. In fact we don’t totally know the captain’s medical historical past (aside from him having lately been cleared to fly), but it surely’s a great reminder to reside day by day to the fullest, and to all the time make sure that your family members understand how a lot you care about them.
This flight’s fascinating routing to New York
The logistics of this occasion are price taking a fast peek at, particularly if you take a look at the flight monitoring. Let me simply begin by displaying the map, which supplies you a way of simply how far out its approach the plane diverted.
The plane departed Seattle at 7:01PM native time, kicking off the anticipated 11-hour journey to Istanbul. The primary 3hr20min of the flight adopted the usual routing, because the plane flew northeast, and made it to the very northeastern portion of Canada.
Nonetheless, at that time you possibly can see the plane briefly making a flip south a bit, for only a matter of minutes. The airplane then makes a flip north once more for round 20 minutes, as if it’s going to proceed its journey.
At that time, the jet makes a pointy flip to the south, and begins flying all the best way to New York. From the time that the airplane turned south, it took over 4 hours till the airplane touched down in New York. The airplane landed there at 5:56AM this morning, 7hr55min after departing Seattle.
Based mostly on wanting on the airplane’s path, it certain looks as if when there was first a flip to the south, maybe the purpose was to land on the nearest airport as shortly as potential, in hopes of the captain surviving. Nonetheless, I assume that when it was decided that he had misplaced his life, the planning was based mostly on logistics, moderately than simply the closest potential diversion level.
New York is in fact an enormous station for Turkish Airways (as Mayor Adams can attest to!), so it’s straightforward to rebook passengers there, discover a alternative crew, and so forth. Presumably the jet couldn’t fly all the best way again to Istanbul with simply two pilots, given relaxation necessities.
Backside line
A Turkish Airways Airbus A350 flying from Seattle to Istanbul diverted to New York, after the captain died inflight. The airplane was already flying very far north, so it was fairly the journey to land in New York, because it required flying round 4 hours out of the best way. My ideas are with the captain’s household, and will he relaxation in peace… how unhappy.
What do you make of this Turkish Airways diversion?
