A YouTuber pilot who jumped into the air and deliberately crashed his plane could face up to 20 years in prison after agreeing to plead guilty to obstructing a US investigation, officials said Thursday.
In a video watched by nearly three million people titled “I Crashed My Airplane” [“Eu fiz o meu avião despenhar-se”]Trevor Jacob appeared to have engine problems while flying over Southern California in November 2021.
The footage shows 29-year-old Jacob leaping from the single-engine plane – selfie stick in hand – and parachuting into the dense undergrowth of Los Padres National Forest.
Cameras placed throughout the plane show the uncontrolled fall into the woods and impact with the ground. Jacob filmed himself walking to the wreckage, where he seemed appalled to discover that the water he had packed had run out.
In the video, Jacob crashes into poisonous bushes and a hill as he struggles to find someone, repeatedly mentioning that he was thirsty and feeling lost.
In the weeks following the incident, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launched an investigation into the accident, and Jacob was ordered to preserve the wreckage.
The YouTuber told authorities he didn’t know where the plane had crashed, but according to a plea deal filed in Los Angeles two weeks after the incident, he and a friend removed the wreckage from the woods using a helicopter.
Over the next few days, Jacob cut the plane into small pieces and disposed of them in garbage cans outside the Lompoc City airport.
The FAA, the agency that regulates flights in the United States, revoked Jacob’s pilot’s license in April 2022.
In a plea deal, Jacob admitted his intent to obstruct federal authorities by removing the wreckage and made the video to make money by sponsoring a wallet company.
“Jacob further admitted that he lied to federal investigators when he filed a plane crash report that falsely stated that the plane suffered a total loss of power approximately 35 minutes after takeoff,” the Justice Department statement said.
“Jacob also lied to an FAA aviation safety inspector when he said the plane’s engine had stalled and, unable to identify safe landing options, he parachuted from the plane,” it adds.
The YouTuber has agreed to plead guilty to one count of destroying and concealing evidence with intent to obstruct a federal investigation, a crime that carries a maximum legal sentence of 20 years.
The youtuber is expected to formally file his claim in Los Angeles in the coming weeks and be sentenced at a later date.
Source: DN
