03.07.2025 10:26
After taking off from Eskişehir for a world tour, pilot Mehmet Demirci lost his life when his M20J single-engine aircraft crashed in the Kaçkar Mountains on the Rize-Erzurum border. In an interview before the accident, he had said, "This world tour was my childhood dream." Demirci mentioned that his aircraft was particularly preferred for world tours due to its efficiency, speed, and range.
An airplane carrying two people crashed in the rural borders of Erzurum-Rize. Rize Governor İhsan Selim Baydaş announced that JAK teams reached the crashed plane, and the passenger on board was rescued alive, while the pilot lost his life. The pilot, who had his world tour cut short on the first day, had stated that this journey was his childhood dream.
HE HAD BEEN PREPARING FOR A WORLD TOUR FOR 1 YEAR Mehmet Demirci, an electrical engineer and an amateur pilot since 2008, started preparations for his world tour about a year ago. Completing the permissions for 32 airports where he would land during the tour last Friday, pilot Demirci took off from Atatürk Airport in Çorlu, Tekirdağ, with his companion Hicran Kaya in his M20J single-engine aircraft. Demirci landed at the Sivrihisar Aviation Center in Eskişehir, his first stop. Kaya and pilot Demirci were welcomed by Turkey's first aerobatic pilot Ali İsmet Öztürk, his daughter Semin Öztürk Şener, who is also Turkey's first female aerobatic pilot, and Kamuran Keskin, the president of the Sivrihisar Sportive Aviation Club, along with the technical team.
HE LOST HIS LIFE WITHOUT REACHING HIS FIRST STOP From here, at around 18:00 yesterday, Mehmet Demirci's plane crashed in the Kaçkar Mountains on the Rize-Erzurum border. In the accident, pilot Mehmet Demirci lost his life, while his passenger Hicran Kaya, whom he had taken on board to take to Rize, was rescued with injuries.
"THE WORLD TOUR WAS MY CHILDHOOD DREAM" Before embarking on his world tour, Mehmet Demirci had made a statement to journalists at the Sivrihisar Aviation Center in Eskişehir. Stating that the idea of going on a world tour by plane was his childhood dream, Demirci said, "This world tour was my childhood dream. We tried to be particularly selective when buying the plane because it is an aircraft preferred for world tours due to its efficiency, speed, and range. We carried out the necessary maintenance and preparations for our aircraft. In fact, we went through a preparation process of about 1 year. During this preparation process, the routes our aircraft would take, the airports there, the fuel we would obtain, the suitability of the airports for our aircraft, and the necessary permissions in the flight areas were only finalized 5-6 days ago. The main reason we plan to undertake this world tour in 2025 is that there are many wars and conflicts around the world; the most important thing for us is world peace, and alongside that, it is the 100th anniversary of the establishment of our Turkish Aeronautical Association by Atatürk, so we aimed to dedicate this world tour to the Turkish Aeronautical Association and world peace. Our flight here was the first leg of our journey. Such world tours are very foreign in Turkey; we, as Turkish pilots and with a Turkish-flagged aircraft, are trying this for the first time."
HE HAD PLANNED THE WORLD TOUR DAY BY DAY Demirci mentioned that he wanted to cover approximately 28,000 kilometers and fly for 160 hours in 12 countries during the world tour, explaining his flight plans as follows:
"After taking off from here, we will stop in Rize in the evening, and then we will proceed to Aktau, Kazakhstan. We have 2 stops in Kazakhstan, then Russia, Mongolia, the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Bering Strait, and then we will move on to Alaska. After that, we will head south from the cold regions to America. There is a very large aviation event taking place in America between July 21-27. About 15-16 thousand aircraft from all over the world are participating. We are also considering going there as the first aircraft with a Turkish flag. Our goal is to promote the name of the Turk, Turkish pilots, and Turkish aircraft there. After staying there for a week, we will transition to Europe through New York, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, and the Netherlands. After Europe, we will return along the same route. Our first departure airport was Çorlu Atatürk Airport, and our final landing point will also be there. After that, we will proceed to Yeşilköy. We will have approximately 32 stops. We will spend about 160 hours in the air, which corresponds to about 38-40 days, but as I said, it will depend on the weather conditions. The reason we chose July is that the weather is nice everywhere, including the poles. We checked the statistics for many years. July and August are good months."