The US Department of Justice has announced that a YouTuber accused of intentionally crashing his plane to boost his views has decided to plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation.
According to a statement by the US attorney’s office, Trevor Jacob, 29, may spend up to 20 years in federal prison for deliberately destroying the wreckage of the tiny single-engine plane that he crashed in California’s Los Padres national forest in 2021.
Before the plane crashed, Jacob parachuted out and recorded the event in a YouTube video. He initially claimed to investigators that his aircraft had lost power and that he was unaware of the location of the disaster.
However, aviation specialists and federal officials cast doubt on his story. Later, they discovered that Jacob had not tried to contact air traffic control, restart his engine, or look for a secure landing spot.
The YouTuber, who identified himself as an expert pilot and skydiver, confessed in his plea deal that he never planned to finish his solo trip from Lompoc airport in southern California to Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Prior to taking off on 24 November 2021, Jacob mounted several video cameras on different parts of the plane and equipped himself with a parachute, video camera and selfie stick, officials said. About 35 minutes into the flight, he jumped from the plane and began filming the aircraft as it plunged into the dry brush below. Once he touched ground, he hiked to the crash site and retrieved the footage from the crash.
Two days later, Jacob informed the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the plane crash but told investigators with the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration that he did not know where the wreckage was.
On 10 December 2021, however, Jacob and a friend flew to the crash site and towed the crashed plane to Santa Barbara county, where Jacob put it in a hangar. Over several days, he destroyed sections of the plane and placed the parts in trash cans around the airport and elsewhere, which authorities say he admitted to doing in order to mislead investigators.
On December 23, 2021, he published a YouTube video titled I Crashed My Plane. The FAA terminated Jacob’s pilot licence the following April when investigators discovered his falsehoods and deceptions.
Nearly 3 million people have seen Jacob’s crash-related video.
Source: The Guardian