YouTuber admits to deliberately crashing his plane in order to gain views

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According to the US Justice Department, a 29-year-old YouTuber who intentionally crashed a plane has agreed to plead guilty to a federal offense after he destroyed the jet’s wreckage.

Trevor In a video he produced to advertise a wallet, Daniel Jacob acknowledged to federal officials that he intended to crash his jet. In order to prevent federal investigators from looking into the crash scene, he later gathered the aircraft’s debris and removed it, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

In order to hinder a federal investigation, Jacob, a pilot and skydiver, consented to plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment, according to the press statement.

On November 24, 2021, the flight took happen. Jacob stated in the plea agreement that he never planned to land the aircraft after it took off from Lompoc City Airport in Santa Barbara County.

As opposed to that, he “planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight and video himself parachuting to the ground and the airplane as it descended and crashed,” the statement reads.

Authorities claimed Jacob had installed numerous cameras throughout the aircraft and included a parachute, video camera, and selfie stick.

“Jacob ejected from the airplane and videoed himself parachuting to the ground about 35 minutes after takeoff, while flying above the Los Padres National Forest near Santa Maria,” the statement continued.

According to the press statement, he parachuted to the ground, recorded the crash, then hiked to the debris and brought the video data with him.

Two days after the collision, the YouTuber informed the National Transportation Safety Board of it and offered to provide them access to the scene. However, he falsely told authorities that he did not know the location of the crash site. Then, according to the statement, which quotes the plea deal, he flew to the scene with a companion about two weeks later, loaded up the plane debris, and later burned it.

About a month after the incident, he posted a video on YouTube titled “I Crashed My Airplane,” which featured Jacob jumping out of the aircraft and the crash itself.

On YouTube, his followers were skeptical of the stunt. Several comments noted that Jacob was already wearing a parachute, that he didn’t try to glide the plane to a safe landing spot, and that he took his camera and selfie stick with him when he got out of the plane.

According to the press release, “Jacob admitted in his plea agreement that he intended to make money off the video.”

The news announcement stated that he also acknowledged to lying to federal authorities after submitting an event report for an aviation accident and making the false allegation that the plane completely lost power around 30 minutes after departure.

Jacob further misled a Federal Aviation Administration aviation safety inspector, it said, by claiming that the plane’s engine had failed and that he had parachuted out of the aircraft after being unable to find a safe place to land.

According to the press release, the FAA canceled Jacob’s pilot license last year as a result of the prank. He will make an appearance in court soon.

The case is still open.

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