YouTuber accused of deliberately crashing plane for views pleads guilty

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) A YouTuber accused of deliberately crashing his plane to get a boost in views has agreed to plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation, the US Department of Justice announced.

Trevor Jacob, 29, faces up to 20 years in federal prison after he purposely destroyed the wreckage of the small single-engine plane that he crashed in California’s Los Padres national forest in 2021, according to a statement from the US attorney’s office.

Jacob, who parachuted out of the plane before it crashed, uploaded a video to YouTube documenting the incident. He initially told investigators that his plane lost power and that he did not know where the wreck was. But his story drew doubts from aviation experts and federal authorities. They later found that Jacob made no attempt to call air traffic control, restart his engine or search for a safe place to land.

The YouTuber, who described himself as an experienced pilot and skydiver, never intended to complete his solo flight from Lompoc airport in southern California to Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada mountains, he admitted in his plea agreement. ...............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/11/youtuber-crashed-plane-pleads-guilty-los-padres-forest

[Ziggysmom]

1. What a sicko attention whore. Crashing that plane on purpose could have killed someone

or caused a forest fire. Hope he gets the max prison sentence.

[Quixote1818]

2. I followed this. The other pilot channels immediately saw it was staged. He's an idiot. nt

[LudwigPastorius]

3. What a shithead.