A YouTuber jumps out of his flying plane and films the crash. The spectacular action could now earn him 20 years in prison.
YouTuber Trevor Jacob has pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal investigation into his downed plane. This was announced by the Attorney General of the Central District of California in a press release.
The 29-year-old now faces up to 20 years in federal prison, the statement said. An outcome that the moderately successful YouTuber – he has 140,000 subscribers – probably hadn’t imagined.
All he really wanted to do was make a spectacular YouTube video for which he received lucrative sponsorship from a company.
According to prosecutors, in November 2021 he took off for a flight from a small Californian airport, about 150 kilometers northwest of Los Angeles. He had prepared the plane with several cameras, about half an hour after take-off the experienced pilot and parachutist left the small propeller plane after he had already switched off the engine.
Jacob parachuted safely to the ground, his plane crashing into dry scrub nearby.
Two days later, he reported the crash to authorities, who then launched an investigation. Presumably Jacob would have had fewer problems if he had openly admitted that it was a planned YouTube stunt.
False statements and destroyed evidence become a problem
Instead, however, he made false statements, for example that he did not know the exact crash site of the plane. In fact, shortly after the crash, he flew to the wreckage in a helicopter and then transported it back to the airport in a hangar. There he sawed up the remains and disposed of them over the course of a few days.
In the video that was released later, you can see how Jacob lands with his parachute and walks to the wreckage of the plane, also video material from the cameras mounted on the plane is cut in between, it shows the last moments before the crash of the driverless plane.
But the story of the sudden engine failure and the unplanned crash could not be upheld by the investigators. According to the press release, Jacob confessed to lying to several investigators about the process and also to having destroyed evidence.
Both are criminal offenses in the United States, and in addition to the prison sentence, the YouTuber could also face a fine of up to $250,000.
