Horror as Turkish Airlines pilot dies mid-flight and plane forced to make emergency landing in New York

A pilot has died mid-flight forcing the plane to make an emergency landing .

The Turkish Airlines plane took off from Seattle in the USA at around 7pm yesterday and was forced to land at New York . It was originally bound for Istanbul before tragedy struck.

An airline spokesman said: "The pilot of our Airbus 350... flight TK204 from Seattle to Istanbul collapsed during the flight.

"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."

The spokesman said the 59-year-old pilot, who was not named, had worked for Turkish Airlines since 2007. They added he had passed a medical examination in March, which gave no indication of any health problems.

• Flight attendant shares three things 'you should never do' to stay safe on plane
• Flight attendant praised for sharing 'life-saving' clothing hanger hack to lock hotel room

The spokesman added: "We wish God's mercy upon our captain and patience to his grieving family, all his colleagues and loved ones."

It is not clear how many passengers were onboard at the time. It landed successfully at JFK airport in New York shortly before 6am local time today (about 11am BST).

The original flight from Seattle to Istanbul should have taken around 11 hours. The Turkish Airline plane was diverted after around eight hours flying time.

It comes after dramatic footage captured the moment a Frontier Airlines plane with nearly 200 passengers onboard seemingly burst into flames . The harrowing incident occurred during a "hard landing" at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Saturday. The shocking video shows flames erupting from beneath the aircraft.

Flight 1326 from San Diego was engulfed in the drama as smoke filled the cockpit, prompting pilots to declare an emergency. Authorities are now probing the circumstances of the emergency landing. A Twitter user posted clips of the event, noting the swift response of firefighters.

The tweet described the evacuation process: "Caught me by surprise. Firefighters sprayed the aircraft with foam, according to @liveatc they'll be evacuating by stairs (not blowing any slides).", reports the Mirror .

Airport representatives explained that the aircraft "experienced a hard landing where basically tires blew". The FAA confirmed that there were 190 people aboard during the afternoon scare. They added that airport emergency services put out a fire on the plane's right engine post-landing.