A YouTuber is now facing the possibility of spending up to 20 years in federal prison after intentionally crashing an aircraft into the hills of the Los Padres National Forest in California solely to gain internet fame.
The viral video of the reckless stunt, which Trevor Jacob, a former Olympic snowboarder, claimed was an accident, has accumulated over three million views.
In the video, Jacob jumps out of the Taylorcraft BL64 plane with a parachute as the cameras capture the aircraft crashing into the hills. He alleged that the plane lost power mid-flight, leaving him with no choice but to abandon it and parachute to safety, according to LAD Bible.
After returning to the crash site to retrieve the footage, Jacob claimed that a farmer had saved his life.
According to officials, before the flight on November 24, 2021, Jacob affixed multiple video cameras to different areas of the aircraft and brought along a selfie stick and a video camera, as well as a parachute, per The Guardian.
Following the crash, Jacob notified the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the incident two days later but informed them and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that he was unaware of the location of the wreckage.
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However, on December 10, 2021, Trevor Jacob and a companion journeyed to the crash site and towed the plane to Santa Barbara County, where it was housed in a hangar. He then dismantled certain portions of the plane and scattered the components in waste bins located in and around the airport, according to authorities, who assert that Jacob confessed to this ploy to deceive investigators.
On December 23, 2021, he uploaded a video titled "I Crashed My Plane" on YouTube.
Trevor Jacob To Plead Guilty
Trevor Jacob's pilot's license was revoked by the FAA in April of last year. Jacob, who identified himself as a skilled pilot and skydiver, will enter his plea formally in Los Angeles in the upcoming weeks and will be sentenced later.
According to a plea agreement, he admitted to deliberately obstructing federal authorities by disposing of the wreckage and creating the video to earn money through a wallet company's sponsorship, per The National.
The Department of Justice stated that Jacob also lied to investigators about the plane's engine failure and his parachute landing. As a result, he has agreed to plead guilty to one count of obstruction with the intent to destroy and conceal, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
In his plea agreement, he admitted that he had no intention of completing his solo flight from Lompoc Airport to Mammoth Lakes.
Several aviation professionals criticized Jacob for failing to restart the plane's malfunctioning engine and for wearing a parachute, which they claimed was not typical for small aircraft pilots.
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