After an unsuccessful attempt to give first aid, the flight crew of another pilot and a co-pilot decided to make an emergency landing, but he died before landing,” an airline spokesperson wrote.

Pilot Ilcehin Pehivan, 59, had suddenly “collapsed,” according to a post on X from the company’s spokesman Yahya Ustun. The Airbus A350-900, which was flying out of Istanbul, was forced to suddenly veer off its original transatlantic course and land at Kennedy Airport. The plane safely landed without further incident just before 6 a.m.