YouTuber Intentionally Crashed Airplane, Obstructed Investigation

YouTuber Intentionally Crashed Airplane, Obstructed Investigation

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It’s really sad what people will do for attention nowadays…

YouTuber intentionally crashed airplane for views

The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California has announced that 29-year-old Trevor Jacob has plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with intent to obstruct a federal investigation. This carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

What exactly happened here? On November 24, 2021, Jacob took off in his airplane from Lompoc City Airport in California, to operate a solo flight that was purportedly destined for Mammoth Lakes. However, he didn’t intend to reach his destination, but rather he planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight, and video himself parachuting to the ground while his airplane descended and crashed.

Jacob had reportedly secured a sponsorship from a company that sells various products. Pursuant to the sponsorship deal, Jacob agreed to promote the company’s products in a YouTube video. So he thought this video would get a lot of attention.

Prior to taking off, Jacob mounted several video cameras on different parts of the airplane, and also equipped himself with a parachute, video camera, and selfie stick. Approximately 35 minutes after taking off, while flying above the Los Padres National Forest, he ejected himself from the airplane and parachuted to the ground. You can see the video for yourself below.

He was then able to record the airplane as it descended and crashed into a dry brush area in Los Padres National Forest. He then hiked to the location of the wreck and recovered the data containing the video recording of his flight.

YouTuber obstructed investigation into crash

Unfortunately intentionally crashing a plane wasn’t even the worst thing Jacob did. Two days after the crash, Jacob informed the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) about the plane crash. The NTSB then launched an investigation, and told Jacob he was responsible for preserving the wreckage so that the agency could examine it.

He agreed to determine the crash location and provide both coordinates of the downed plane and videos of the crash.

In the weeks following the plane crash, Jacob lied to investigators that he did not know the wreckage’s location. On December 10, 2021, Jacob and a friend flew by helicopter to the wreckage site, in order to secretly recover it. Jacob used straps to secure the wreckage, and then the helicopter lifted and carried it to Rancho Sisquoc in Santa Barbara County, where it was loaded onto a trailer attached to Jacob’s pickup truck.

He then drove the wreckage to Lompoc City Airport and unloaded it into a hangar. Once there, he cut up the wreckage into small pieces and destroyed it, depositing the detached parts of the wrecked airplane into trash bins at the airport and elsewhere.

Furthermore, Jacob lied to investigators, and falsely claimed that the aircraft experienced a full loss of power, which is why he decided to parachute out of the plane, because he couldn’t identify any safe landing options. Jacob’s pilots license has been revoked, though at this point that will be the least of his problems.

Bottom line

It really is sad how desperate some people are for attention. It’s bad enough to crash an airplane for views. It’s even worse to then lie to investigators and try to hide up the wreckage and chop it up into small pieces so it’s not found. Also, how did he see this playing out? If you’re going to lie to investigators, then you also can’t post a video online showing exactly what you intended to do, which negates the whole purpose of the publicity stunt.

I’m sure this guy will have some time in prison to think about his actions… maybe he can make a video about it.

What do you make of this incident?

Conversations (26)
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  1. Maryland Guest

    We need to stop supporting stupid. These "fun" YouTube stunts and the idiots that perform them are often dangerous and harmful to others. The plane crasher is a sociopath judging by how far he was willing to go to commit and cover his crime

  2. Gray Guest

    Admittedly, I'm not from CA, but I find the pointless destruction of a (presumably) perfectly serviceable 80-year-old airplane like this to be among the most utterly indefensible aspects here.

  3. Hassan Guest

    Did he own the plane? 20 years sentence seems excessive. How much would you get for intentionally crashing your vehicle?

  4. FAA is watching you. Guest

    "Higher Power is watching over me" lol! The Higher Power being The US Government. Pretty soon the Higher Power will be a "Bubba" in Prison watching over you. Dumb MFer!

  5. Eskimo Guest

    Clickbait content gone too far.

    #MrBeast
    #SamChui

  6. Davisson Guest

    He could have paid monies and gotten a proper filming permit and legalities. It would have cost a lot more money but you gotta do it the appropriate way man.

  7. Mike Saint Guest

    This guy is an idiot. I don't understand what he thought would happen? His entire goal was to go viral right? He had to know that IF it did go viral, there would be a lot of scrutiny on the entire thing. People like this are idiots and deserve the consequences.

    The guy depending him on this forum is probably him or one of his family members. This was idiotic.

  8. Jeffrey Chang Guest

    Eight years in a federal pound me in the ass prison should sort this guy out.

  9. lars Guest

    This isn’t going to be a popular take, but I believe this guy is pretty rad and cool. I don’t condone the obstruction/lying to investigators. He should be held to account for that. But the rest of this stunt was harmless enough, and was executed and documented incredibly well. The video is top notch entertainment. This man sacrificed much to provide innovative and high-quality entertainment to the masses. To be great, one must be willing...

    This isn’t going to be a popular take, but I believe this guy is pretty rad and cool. I don’t condone the obstruction/lying to investigators. He should be held to account for that. But the rest of this stunt was harmless enough, and was executed and documented incredibly well. The video is top notch entertainment. This man sacrificed much to provide innovative and high-quality entertainment to the masses. To be great, one must be willing to suffer for their art. This man is certainly willing to do that.

    1. FR Guest

      What if the plane would have crashed into something - human or animal or a structure such as a building or even powerlines. Once he jumped out he had no control of where it was going. This was an extremely reckless act that easily could have endangered others.

    2. DavidW Guest

      Yeah, you're right, your reponse pissed me off. His plane crashed into a National Forest. It could have started a fire, injured someone on the ground, damaged the forest and likely injured or killed wildlife. Is that worth a couple minutes of "entertainment"?

    3. lars Guest

      I’ll respond in turn;

      -Could have started a fire. I suppose this is theoretically possible, but unlikely. The Taylorcraft BL-65 that he used has an empty weight of 640 pounds. Everything behind the pilot’s door is literally a lattice of metal tubing covered with fabric. It has one fuel tank with a capacity of 12 gallons. That’s generally good for about 2.5 hours of flying in good conditions. So if we assume that he took...

      I’ll respond in turn;

      -Could have started a fire. I suppose this is theoretically possible, but unlikely. The Taylorcraft BL-65 that he used has an empty weight of 640 pounds. Everything behind the pilot’s door is literally a lattice of metal tubing covered with fabric. It has one fuel tank with a capacity of 12 gallons. That’s generally good for about 2.5 hours of flying in good conditions. So if we assume that he took off with a full load of fuel, after his 35 minutes of flying he was down to no more than 9.2 gallons. The engine packs a whopping 65 horses. Point being, there’s just not much flammable payload here. There’s also not much “structure” to the plane given the extensive use of framing covered with fabric. It would appear likely that Trevor probably took much less fuel, given the mission. He could have bailed with as little as three gallons if he wanted to keep enough fuel to be able to make it back to the airport if he decided to call off the mission. As you could probably guess, the plane is slow AF, and even slower when gliding. Your fire risk here is about on par with that of a drunken “bubba” type crashing his polaris side by side into a tree in the woods. It’s non-zero, but it seems pretty low. It’s a low speed crash with very little fuel.

      Could have hurt an animal-Yeah, it could have. Odds of that seem infinisimal…like a lightning strike.

      Could damage the forest- see my first response. You’d do more damage crashing your prius into a tree than this plane would do. He also bailed in a large treeless area, necessary to avoid parachute getting hung up in a tree.

      Endanger others: What others? He ditched in an open, inhospitable area requiring a full day’s hike to make it to where humans might be.

      Basically this was incredibly well-planned and executed. It’s an inherently risky activity, but clear steps were taken to mitigate those risks. I a think everyone can agree it’s also generally unadvisable and illegal. But if someone has made up their mind that they are going to stage a plane crash and an ensuing quest for survival, they would be hard-pressed to do a much better job.

      He really should have immediately lawyered up after the stunt though. Probably could’ve saved him much of the trouble he now faces with the USDOJ.

    4. Donna Diamond

      @lars - Fire was not unlikely. This crash was in the middle of a drought that lasted for years prior to this current year of record breaking rainfall. As a Californian, I’m not at all amused by this stooge and his “art.” People lose their property and lives in wild fires all the time in this state.

    5. lars Guest

      Donna, “Fire was not unlikely” is a conclusory statement. Where’s the support? He might have starved the engine of fuel for all we know. Without knowing things like how much fuel was on board, the velocity at impact, and other particulars, you’re going to have a very hard time assigning a probability of the occurrence of a fire. Sadly, because he tampered with the crash site and lied (I don’t condone this) the NTSB and...

      Donna, “Fire was not unlikely” is a conclusory statement. Where’s the support? He might have starved the engine of fuel for all we know. Without knowing things like how much fuel was on board, the velocity at impact, and other particulars, you’re going to have a very hard time assigning a probability of the occurrence of a fire. Sadly, because he tampered with the crash site and lied (I don’t condone this) the NTSB and others won’t have a chance to analyze this. That said, this isn’t a jet with tons of fuel in its wings and belly. We know to a certitude based upon its capacity and consumption rate that it had less fuel on board than the capacity of a hybrid prius. The thing has a max speed of 100mph, stall speed of 45mph, and cruises at a speed slower than many folks drive on the freeway. Its engine was off and it glided down to the mountainside and crashed, with less than ten gallons of fuel, with the fuselage remaining largely intact despite its incredibly lightweight construction of cloth over a light frame (some BL-65’s actually have a wooden frame underneath the cloth!) Seriously, a Cessna 172 looks like a beast compared to this thing in every category. Those are facts. I’m interested to hear how we get from the known facts to your essential assertion that fire was likely.

      Separately, CA should consider controlled burns to stop the guaranteed periodic uncontrollable infernos, but that’s a whole other matter.

    6. max Guest

      @lars -- in California, all it takes is a spark. this forest has populated areas on many sides.

    7. staradmiral Guest

      Harmless!, what if the plane crashed onto someone hiking in the woods, or onto someone's cabin?

    8. Brian L. Guest

      You're delusional. This scumbag deserves a LONG prison sentence.

    9. Bobo Bolinski Guest

      This scumbag deserves to rot in jail for a very long time. He (and anyone who thinks this is somehow "cool") is a perfect example of what's wrong with society.

  10. John Guest

    In the federal system you don’t get a “plea deal.” You can agree with prosecutors on what you’ll plead guilty to, and they may agree to dismiss other charges in exchange. But generally they won’t promise a particular sentence and will leave it up to the judge.

    That said, I wouldn’t expect jail time for this unless he’s unlucky in terms of the assigned judge. He basicallly pled guilty to destroying evidence and lying to...

    In the federal system you don’t get a “plea deal.” You can agree with prosecutors on what you’ll plead guilty to, and they may agree to dismiss other charges in exchange. But generally they won’t promise a particular sentence and will leave it up to the judge.

    That said, I wouldn’t expect jail time for this unless he’s unlucky in terms of the assigned judge. He basicallly pled guilty to destroying evidence and lying to investigators. For a first time offender I’m pretty sure his guidelines sentence range would be 0-6 months imprisonment. Usually judges impose the low end of the guidelines range. Still it makes him a convicted felon with all the collateral consequences that entails.

    1. max Guest

      First point is a bit pedantic, plenty of prosecutor's offices (even federal) use the term "plea deal" informally as Ben does here even though it's not binding on the court.
      The guidelines sentence range is right in the plea deal and is 12-18 months after acceptable of responsibility.

    2. ConcordeBoy Diamond

      Indeed, during the high-profile mob takedowns of the '70s and '80s, the SDNY offered almost nothing *BUT* successive series of "plea deals" (their own description) to work their way up the chains of command.

  11. NedsKid Diamond

    Thank you for posting the follow up to this. I almost forgot about this. I seem to recall that he made some videos explaining himself after the fact and posted online, once his license was suspended, that also helped incriminate himself, basically hypothetically saying what he did wasn't wrong in his view since it didn't hurt anything but his airplane.

  12. Donna Diamond

    The fact that he plead guilty seems to indicate a deal has been worked out. Light sentence? He needs to get more than a slap on the wrist for this stunt.

  13. Hobbs Guest

    Wondering if you need some kind of permit to strap a wrecked plane to a helicopter and fly it over a populated area. Falling parts, you know.

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

FR Guest

What if the plane would have crashed into something - human or animal or a structure such as a building or even powerlines. Once he jumped out he had no control of where it was going. This was an extremely reckless act that easily could have endangered others.

6
DavidW Guest

Yeah, you're right, your reponse pissed me off. His plane crashed into a National Forest. It could have started a fire, injured someone on the ground, damaged the forest and likely injured or killed wildlife. Is that worth a couple minutes of "entertainment"?

5
Brian L. Guest

You're delusional. This scumbag deserves a LONG prison sentence.

4
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