January 22, 2021
Arshid Moti-Ghavanin seen after their 2007 roundthe-world flight.
Farhad Rostampour, a veteran pilot from South Carolina, died in a plane crash January 13. He was 62.
In 2007, he had joined with Arshid Moti-Ghavanin to fly a single-engine airplane around the globe, becoming the first Iranian-born pilots to manage the feat.
“Our mission was to advertise what the Iranian people are all about,” Rostampour told The Greenville News upon landing. “And we are totally separate from the government.”
Rostampour was a 1984 graduate of the University of South Carolina and a political analyst on the Middle East as well as a human rights activist, according to biographical information included in a guest column he wrote for The Greenville News.
Robert Kelley, vice president of ETT Environmental Inc., had known Rostampour for over 30 years. “He was quite an entrepreneur. Very bold and decisive and led the company for 30 years,” Kelley said. “But his greatest accomplishment was flying around the world.”
In 2007, he and Moti-Ghavanin, a resident of London, England, flew around the world in a F33TC Bonanza single-engine plane similar to the Beechcraft BE-33 in which he died.
Rostampour leaves behind two daughters and his ex-wife Linda.
The plane appeared to be trying to land at the airport in Greenville when it hit trees, then struck the roof of a home and slammed into the ground, according to Columbia Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins.
The Federal Aviation Authority and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
After his flight in 2007, Rostampour said the flight was meant to reach a young generation in Iran who’d lost hope for a better future in a society where human rights weren’t cherished.
“It was hoped that this will stimulate their courage to push for a change in government,” he wrote. “If we have any hope for a democratic movement to sprout in Iran, a fearless, open society is a ‘must-have component.’ With the young generation’s self-confidence and the support of the international community, Iranians are more likely to take steps forward toward establishing a democratic government.”