The aircraft was a
Boeing 737-400, built in 1995, registered as TC-JEP, and named
Trakya. Owned by
ILFC, an American aircraft lessor, it was equipped with two
CFM International CFM56 engines and had accumulated around 11,600 flight hours in 6,360 flight cycles up until the time of the accident. The preceding flight from
King Abdulaziz International Airport in
Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia, had uneventfully transferred 150 pilgrims returning from the
hajj to
Adana Şakirpaşa Airport, where it landed at around 23:45
EET (20:45
UTC). Remaining on the ground for around one hour for refueling, Flight 5904 took off with a new crew – two pilots and four
flight attendants – and around 10 to 15 tons of fuel at 00:36 EET to pick up more pilgrims from Jeddah. Before takeoff, upon request by the crew, the
air traffic controller at
Incirlik Air Base relayed the weather report, informing the crew that the entire
aerodrome was completely covered by thunderstorms and that the thunderstorms were moving from the south towards the north. The impact resulted in a large explosion that was reported near Hamdili. After the aircraft vanished from radar, air traffic controllers at Adana Airport and Incirlik Air Base immediately notified the
Gendarmerie and the police to initiate
search and rescue efforts. ==Investigation==