A YouTuber, Trevor Jacob, 30, has been sentenced to six months in jail for intentionally crashing his plane for views and deceiving US investigators.
In a plea deal, Jacob admitted filming the December 2021 crash, initially presented as an accident, as part of a sponsorship agreement for a wallet company.
Trevor who was a former Olympic snowboarder departed from Santa Barbara, California airport on a solo flight, with cameras mounted on the plane. He also carried a parachute and a selfie stick.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said Trevor Jacob confirmed that he did not intend to reach his destination. Instead, he planned to eject from the aircraft mid-flight, capturing his descent on video as he parachuted to the ground, with the plane crashing in the background.
After the plane crashed into the Los Padres National Forest 35 minutes after take-off, Trevor Jacob hiked to the crash site and recovered the footage. He then uploaded the video titled ‘I crashed my airplane’ to YouTube on December 23.
Eventually, Trevor Jacob pleaded guilty to a felony count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, acknowledging that the experience was humbling.
He also called the sentence the ‘right decision’ in a statement.
The video gained almost three million views before it was taken down.
