YouTuber Who Crashed Plane While Obsessed with View Counts (Comprehensive)

Contract with Company and Evidence Destruction
Prosecutors: "Corresponds to a Serious Crime Punishable by Up to 20 Years"

A former U.S. national snowboard team athlete turned skydiver YouTuber has admitted to deliberately crashing the small plane he was flying to increase his YouTube views.

On the 12th (local time), U.S. broadcasters ABC and NBC reported that Trevor Jacob (29), who had previously denied the charges, recently admitted to his wrongdoing, and as a result, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

In December 2021, Jacob uploaded a 12-minute and 48-second video titled "I crashed my airplane" on his YouTube channel 'TrevorJacob.' At the beginning of the video, Jacob is seen flying a small plane over California with a bright expression. Suddenly, the plane’s propeller stops, and Jacob opens the cockpit door, surveys the terrain below, and without hesitation, jumps out of the plane.

A YouTuber Trevor Jacob parachuting from the light aircraft he was piloting
[Photo by Yonhap News]

While descending barehanded holding a selfie stick, he deployed a parachute and landed safely with only minor injuries to his arms and back. However, the pilotless plane drifted and crashed into the middle of the Los Padres National Forest in California 35 minutes after takeoff. As of that day, the video had recorded 2.97 million views and has since surpassed 3.01 million views.

From the moment the video was posted, some viewers strongly suspected the crash was staged. They pointed out that Jacob was wearing a parachute from the start and made no attempt to safely land the plane. Pilots and other aviation experts also expressed opinions supporting the claim that it was fabricated. However, immediately after the incident, Jacob told The New York Times (NYT), "I did not crash the plane on purpose for YouTube views."

Ultimately, this explanation was proven false. According to the U.S. Central District Attorney’s Office in California, Jacob recently confessed in a plea agreement submitted to the Los Angeles (LA) federal court that he had filmed the video under a sponsorship contract with a wallet manufacturer.

Earlier, last year, a YouTuber claimed that Jacob originally uploaded a 16-minute and 41-second video but cut out about four minutes from the beginning. In the original uncut video released by this YouTuber, Jacob is seen holding up a wallet in front of the plane before takeoff, expressing thanks to the company.

Additionally, prosecutors revealed that Jacob also admitted to destroying evidence at the crash site to obstruct the federal investigation. A month after the crash, he emailed investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) claiming he did not know where the plane wreckage was, but this was untrue. Jacob had cleaned up the crash site weeks earlier, reportedly transporting the wreckage from the mountain by helicopter to a hangar, where he cut it into pieces and disposed of it.

His statements about the crash situation were also proven false. His initial response to the FAA was that the plane lost power completely 35 minutes after takeoff and that he jumped because there was no safe way to land, but this was not true. Jacob’s actions constitute a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. His pilot’s license was revoked last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.