Overview of Turkish Airlines Flight 6491
On 28 January 2017 a Turkish Airlines cargo aircraft, registered as TC‑KPM, crashed while attempting to land at Kayseri Erkilet Airport in central Turkey. The flight, known as Turkish Airlines Flight 6491, was a scheduled cargo service from Istanbul Airport to Erbil International Airport in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The accident resulted in the deaths of all four crew members and eight residents on the ground, including several children, making it one of the deadliest commercial aviation incidents in recent Turkish history.
Flight details and route
Flight 6491 was operated with a Boeing 747‑400F freighter, a four‑engine aircraft commonly used for long‑haul cargo operations. The aircraft departed Istanbul at approximately 02:10 local time, carrying a mixed load of pallets, live animals, and a small amount of passenger baggage. The planned flight path covered roughly 1,300 kilometres, crossing the Anatolian plateau before descending toward Kayseri for its scheduled stop‑over.
Timeline of the accident
The sequence of events leading to the crash is summarized below:
- 02:10 – The aircraft departs Istanbul with a full crew complement of two pilots, a flight engineer, and a loadmaster.
- 04:30 – The flight enters the approach sector for Kayseri and receives clearance for a visual approach to runway 17.
- 04:45 – Thick fog reduces visibility to less than 200 metres, prompting the
