YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for staged plane crash
The former U.S. Olympian turned YouTuber crashed his airplane for video views as part of a sponsorship deal.
YouTuber Trevor Jacob was sentenced to six months in prison for obstructing a federal investigation after destroying the wreckage of an airplane he purposely crashed.
On Nov. 24, the 30-year-old flew his airplane out of Lompoc City Airport in Santa Barbara County, California, with the intention purposely crash the vessel for a YouTube video. The stunt was part of a sponsorship deal, in which Jacob agreed to promote the company’s wallet in the video.
Prosecutors say Jacob lied to investigators about the location of the wreckage and instead removed evidence of the plane crash with the intent of obstructing the Federal Aviation Administration from investigating the crash.
With the help of a friend, Jacob airlifted the crashed aircraft to another location. From there, it was transported to a hangar in Lompoc where Jacob cut up the plane into smaller pieces and disposed of the remnants inside airport trash bins.
The social media influencer mounted several cameras on different parts of his airplane and recorded himself parachuting to safety with a selfie stick. Cameras were able to capture as the airplane crashed on a hillside in Los Padres National Forest.
After the parachute landing, Jacob hiked up to the crash to collect his cameras.
On Dec. 23, 2021, Jacob uploaded a video on YouTube titled “I Crashed My Airplane” containing footage of the wreckage and a promotion of the sponsorship’s product.
According to prosecutors, Jacob lied to federal investigators in his report where he stated the aircraft experienced a full loss of power and that he could not identify any safe landing options.
The case was investigated by the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General.
Jacob pleaded guilty on June 30 to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.
“It appears that Jacob exercised exceptionally poor judgment in committing this offense,” said prosecutors in a sentencing memorandum. “Jacob most likely committed this offense to generate social media and news coverage for himself and to obtain financial gain. Nevertheless, this type of ‘daredevil’ conduct cannot be tolerated.”