YouTuber jailed for deliberately crashing plane for views
Trevor Jacob, a former Olympic snowboarder turned YouTuber, has been sentenced to six months in jail for intentionally crashing his plane for views and then lying about it to US investigators.
In November 2021, Jacob took off on a solo flight from a Santa Barbara, California airport with cameras mounted on his plane. He also took a parachute and a selfie stick with him. The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California stated that Jacob “did not intend to reach his destination, but instead planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight and video himself parachuting to the ground and his airplane as it descended and crashed.”
The plane ultimately crashed into the Los Padres National Forest 35 minutes after take-off. Jacob hiked to the crash site and recovered the footage, which he later uploaded to YouTube on December 23, 2021. The video, titled “I crashed my airplane,” also contained a promotion for a wallet company and was viewed by millions of people.
In a plea agreement, Jacob admitted that he intentionally crashed the plane as part of a product sponsorship deal and then falsely reported the crash to the National Transportation Safety Board. He later returned to the crash site by helicopter, removed the wreckage, and destroyed it.
Federal prosecutors in California stated that Jacob “most likely committed this offense to generate social media and news coverage for himself and to obtain financial gain.” They added, “Nevertheless, this type of ‘daredevil’ conduct cannot be tolerated.”
Jacob pleaded guilty earlier this year to one felony count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation. In a statement, Jacob said that the experience has been humbling and described the sentence as the “right decision.”
The video of the crash was eventually removed from YouTube after garnering almost three million views.