YouTuber Trevor Daniel Jacob pleads guilty to Federal charges after intentionally crashing his airplane
A 29-year-old YouTuber has pleaded guilty to federal charges and could face up to 20 years in prison for intentionally crashing his plane and pretending it was an unavoidable accident to gain online views.
Trevor Daniel Jacob, an experienced pilot and skydiver, agreed to promote a wallet in a YouTube video as part of a sponsorship deal.
On November 24, 2021, Jacob filmed himself in his airplane taking off from Lompoc City Airport with a plan to film himself ejecting mid-flight while his plane crashed. After parachuting to the ground and recording the crash, he hiked to the wreck and took the video data of the crash with him.
Two days after the crash, the YouTuber reported it to the National Transportation Safety Board and agreed to share the site of the wreck.
However, he lied to the authorities, claiming that he did not know where the crash site was. Roughly two weeks later, Jacob flew to the site with a friend, loaded up the wreckage, and later destroyed it. The FAA revoked Jacob's pilot's license in 2022, and it's not clear when sentencing is scheduled for in this case.
California prosecutors charged Jacob for deliberately crashing his airplane for online views and then misleading investigators about the location of the wreck.
Jacob pleaded guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, according to his plea agreement. He could face up to 20 years in federal prison, as stated in a news release by the Justice Department.
Jacob put up several cameras in different parts of the plane and took with him a parachute, video camera, and selfie stick. He planned to eject from his aircraft mid-flight and video himself parachuting to the ground while his airplane descended and crashed. Approximately 35 minutes after takeoff, while flying above the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Maria, Jacob ejected from the airplane and videoed himself parachuting to the ground.
Roughly a month after the wreck, he uploaded a video on YouTube called “I Crashed My Airplane,” showing the crash and Jacob parachuting from the plane. The video also shows Jacob hiking, explaining that he was “just so happy to be alive,” and becoming “so thirsty” that he drinks from a nearby stream. Viewers can also see Jacob notice car headlights in the distance after nightfall, and he was “saved” by nearby farmers.
Federal prosecutors revealed that Jacob lied to federal investigators when he submitted an aircraft accident incident report that falsely indicated that the aircraft experienced a full loss of power approximately 35 minutes after takeoff.
He also lied to an FAA aviation safety inspector when he said the airplane's engine had quit, and because he could not identify any safe landing options, he had parachuted out of the plane.
