A Vueling plane seen at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, on September 03, 2014. (photo credit: MOSHE SHAI/FLASH90)
The pilot of the Vueling flight from which Jewish kids were forcefully removed was Ivan Chirivella, the flight instructor of two of the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks, the company revealed on Friday.
Chirivella’s involvement in the September 11 attacks is highlighted in his book, published in 2003, The Innocent Accomplice.
He moved to the US when he was 12. Aiming to become a professional tennis player, he opted to become a pilot after realizing he would not be successful in the sport.
He then transitioned to aviation and took a job at Jones Aviation Academy in Florida. That allowed him to earn money and get the necessary flight hours to get a commercial license.
According to his book, Marwan al-Shehhi and Mohamed Atta, hijackers of United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11, respectively, were entrusted to him by the aviation academy after they “paid hefty sums of money to get the best instructors.”
Chirivellas described them as “normal,” but noted that they had an aggressive attitude, short tempers, and a strong interest in Boeing commercial flights. “I didn’t understand at the time their interest in those planes, when they couldn’t even pass the basic theoretical exams.”
Only an hour after the September 11 attacks, Chivirellas was called by the aviation academy about an FBI investigation that involved two of his students. “When it was confirmed that they performed the attack, I felt shivers down my spine.”
The official investigation declared that there was no connection between Chivirellas and the terrorists, and that he trained them without knowing their real intentions. Still, his work permit for the United States was revoked once he had to renew it after the attacks.
“I don’t know if the investigation was connected or only by chance, but it was weird that after 12 years in the US, I had my permit revoked right after the attacks,” he told Spanish media the day he presented his book.
“What I know is that I’ll always remember what I lived. And I will focus on the good things above all, the things that I learned. And with the bad things? I just tried to ignore them and forget them,” he said.
Chirivellas was also on the Vueling flight
Israel’s Diaspora and Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli made the connection in a post on his X/Twitter account, commenting that “Chirivella was the flight instructor of two of the terrorists who carried out the horrific 9/11 attacks.”
Vueling commented, “In addition to his role as an airline captain, Iván Chirivella, like many pilots, also works as an instructor for aviation professionals at an independent flight school. In this capacity, he has trained more than 100 pilots from around the world in flight operations,” the statement concludes.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
