California-based pilot sparks safety fears after pro-terror posts

A Los Angeles-based United Airlines pilot has sparked security fears for openly expressing sympathy for Iran and an allied terrorist organization.

Israel’s Transport Ministry informed United Airlines on Wednesday that pilot Sina Amjadian is being barred from entry, the Jerusalem Post reported, for sharing controversial posts on his social media.

Amjadian’s Instagram bio describes itself as “Persian-made” and based at Los Angeles International Airport. It features a heart icon next to IKA, the abbreviation for Tehran International Airport.

He shared images on social media showing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei alongside flags of the Islamic Republic, while criticizing Israeli military strikes in Iran.

Two messages in particular appear to have struck a chord with Israel. In one video, he allegedly kissed and greeted the emblem of the Iranian regime.

In a second content, he would have expressed his support for the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by the United States.

“The pilot’s details were passed to the relevant aviation security authority… to ensure that he would not be allowed to enter Israel as a member of an aircraft crew,” a spokesperson for the Israeli Transport Ministry told The Travel.​​

The information was passed to Israeli intelligence and defense agencies, who reviewed the findings and subsequently recommended barring him entry.

The California Post has contacted United Airlines and Amjadian for comment.

The airline told the California Post that Amjadian is not currently flying for the company and has been on leave since 2024.

It’s not immediately clear if he’s back in the cockpit, although he was still posting flight videos in recent days on his Instagram and his LinkedIn still shows him with United as of November 2022.

Before United, he was a pilot with flydubai and, according to the Jerusalem Post, he probably currently resides in Dubai.

It was also determined that Amjadian does not operate international routes, but primarily operates domestic flights within the United States and Canada.

Israel’s action comes in light of the recent attempted terrorist attack carried out by a co-pilot of a flydubai plane bound for Israel.

The co-pilot began working for flydubai just months before he stabbed the lead pilot during a feared terrorist hijacking on a September flight to Tel Aviv, leaving him to plunge 18,000 feet.

Since then, the country has intensified its surveillance. United Airlines issued an internal memo to employees warning that crew members of 29 nationalities, including those from countries including Oman and Iraq, are barred from working on all routes to Israel.

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