YouTuber Pilot Crashed Plane In CA For Views: DOJ

CALIFORNIA — A YouTuber's plane crash stunt could land him in federal prison.

Trevor Daniel Jacob, 29, a former Olympic snowboarder-turned-YouTuber, jumped out of his plane in 2021 in California, claiming the plane had engine trouble. But it was a stunt.

On Thursday, Jacob agreed to plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation by destroying the wreckage of a plane that he intentionally crashed for video views, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

The crash happened Nov. 24, 2021, after Jacob took off from Lompoc City Airport on a solo flight purportedly destined for Mammoth Lakes.

"Jacob did not intend to reach his destination, but instead planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight and video himself parachuting to the ground and his airplane as it descended and crashed, he admitted in the plea agreement," according to the U.S. Attorneys Office, Central District of California.

Jacob, an experienced pilot and skydiver from Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, ejected the plane over Los Padres National Forest near Santa Maria.

In a YouTube video called, "I Crashed My Airplane," Jacob is seen panicking and then jumping out of the single-propeller plane.

"I'm just so happy to be alive," he said in the video. "I'm just kind of taking in what just happened.

"Where the hell am I going to land a freaking plane? I'm going to die," he said. "That's why I always fly with a parachute."

According to his plea agreement, Jacob had secured a sponsorship from a company that sold various products, including a wallet. He agreed to promote the company's wallet in a YouTube video.

Jacob uploaded the 12-minute and 48-second video, which previously contained a promotion of the wallet, to his YouTube channel on Dec. 23, 2021. As of Friday, the video has received more than 3 million views, according to the video's YouTube page.

In the weeks following the plane crash, Jacob "lied to investigators that he did not know the wreckage's location," when in fact he and a friend used a helicopter to tow the wreckage to Rancho Sisquoc, according to the Justice Department. The wreckage was loaded onto a trailer attached to Jacob's pickup truck, driven to Lompoc City Airport and unloaded in a hangar.

"He then cut up and destroyed the airplane wreckage and, over the course of a few days, deposited the detached parts of the wrecked airplane into trash bins at the airport and elsewhere," according to the Justice Department.

The Federal Aviation Administration revoked Jacob's pilot license in April 2022.

Jacob agreed Thursday to plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, a crime that could lead to up to 20 years imprisonment, according to the Justice Department. He is expected to make his initial court appearance in the coming weeks.