Trevor Jacob, a 29-year-old YouTuber who used to be an Olympic snowboarder, intentionally crashed his single-propeller plane in California in November 2021. He admitted to orchestrating the crash to get more views and make money from a sponsorship deal with a wallet company.
Jacob filmed himself jumping out of the plane above the Los Padres National Forest and uploaded a video titled “I Crashed My Plane” to his YouTube channel, which has approximately 137,000 subscribers.
According to Justice Department documents, Jacob pleaded guilty and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in federal prison.
Jacob, the YouTuber, also admitted to falsifying an accident report and lying to investigators. He is expected to appear in court in the upcoming weeks.
YouTuber Cover-up
In his 12-minute YouTube video garnering 2.97 million views, Jacob flew from Lompoc City Airport towards Mammoth Lakes.
During the flight over a mountain range, Jacob displayed a plastic bag containing his friend Johnny Strange’s ashes, who died in 2015 while base jumping.
Jacob expressed his exhaustion and thirst during his trek, saying, “I’m so thirsty, I’m exhausted, I’m scared, I’m in trouble, I’m cut all over the place,” halfway through. He added that his only choice was to continue crawling through the bushes, as he had been doing for the last five hours.
The YouTuber video shows Jacob discovering the wreckage of his plane, and according to the Justice Department, he returned to the site to retrieve footage of the crash.
Doubts
Aviation YouTubers expressed doubt about Jacob’s video, pointing out that he unlocked the plane door before the engine malfunctioned and that he flew with a skydiving parachute, which is not typical for small aircraft pilots.
They also noticed that he didn’t seek a safe place to land despite satellite photos indicating several ideal spots nearby.
In April 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration revoked Jacob’s pilot certificate as part of the crash investigation.
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