Iván Chirivella

Iván Chirivella Cruz (born 1976, Gran Canaria, Spain) is a Spanish commercial airline pilot, tennis player, and author. He gained international attention as a flight instructor who trained two of the September 11 hijackers, Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi, while working at a flight school in Florida. Chirivella has described himself as an "innocent accomplice" (Cómplice inocente), also the title of his 2003 memoir.

Early life Chirivella was born on the island of Gran Canaria in 1976. At the age of 12, he moved with his family to the United States, pursuing a career as an elite tennis player.

Aviation career Chirivella trained as a professional pilot and later became a flight instructor at Jones Aviation Academy in Sarasota, Florida. Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli described the removal as a "serious antisemitic incident," while Vueling stated that the group had "mishandled passenger safety equipment" and displayed "highly combative" behavior that threatened flight safety. Videos of the removal went viral online, and an investigation by Spanish authorities remains ongoing.

Publications Iván Chirivella, Alicia Rodríguez Mederos: Cómplice inocente: Diario del piloto español que enseñó a volar a los terroristas del 11 de septiembre. Martínez Roca, Barcelona 2003, ISBN 978-84-270-2993-4.