Youtuber admits deliberately crashing plane for views
He deliberately crashed the plane as part of a sponsorship deal, despite claiming it was an accident.
A Youtuber who intentionally crashed a plane in order to get more more views will plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation, prosecuters say.
Trevor Jacob, 29, posted the video of the crash in December 2021, in which he implies it was an accident.
But in a plea agreement he said he filmed the video as part of a sponsorship deal, the BBC reports.
The video has over 2.9 million views to date.
In November 2021 Jacob left Santa Barbara airport in California, US, on a solo flight with cameras attached to his plane.
He also took a parachute and selfie stick.
The plane then crashed into Lod Padres National Forest 35 minutes after takeoff.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said Jacobs ‘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 then hiked to the site of the crash to recover the footage, despite claiming to he did not know the location of the incident.
After reporting the crash to the National Transportation Safety Board, Jacob returned to the crash site by helicopter and secured and removed the wreckage, which he later destroyed.
The US justice department have said Jacob will plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation by cleaning up the site of the crash.
If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
Some viewers said they were skeptical of the crash, commenting he made no attempt to land the plane safely and was already wearing a parachute.
Mr Jacob is expected to make his initial court appearance in the coming weeks.
His pilot’s licence was revoked last year.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.