Ivan Chirivella

A Spanish immigrant to the United States who wanted to be a professional tennis player but ended up as a flying instructor.

Apparently taught Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi to fly for a couple of months at Jones Aviation

Chirivella told investigators that Atta, 33 and al-Shehhi, 23 came across from Huffman Aviation hoping to improve their sloppy skills. Chirivella flew with Atta and al-Shehhi four hours almost every morning from Sept. to October 2000. It didn’t work out. According to the New York Times, Atta never looked at his instructor. His attention span was zero. Al-Shehhi fared no better.

CHIRIVELLA described ATTA and ALSHEHHI as very aggressive. The two men were very rude to the female employees at the flight training school. ATTA and ALSHEHHI would often argue with CHIRIVELLA about how things should be done. On at least two occasions, ATTA and ALSHEHHI tried to wrest control of the plane from CHiRIVELLA while he was the pilot in command.

Chirivella is possibly a pilot for Iberia.