YouTuber who crashed plane admits he did it for money and views

A YouTuber who deliberately crashed a plane to "gain notoriety and make money" has agreed to plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday. In his plea agreement, California pilot Trevor Jacob admitted to "deliberately destroying" the plane wreckage and repeatedly lying to officials.

The crimes of destruction and concealment with intent to impede a federal investigation carry a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and a potential fine of up to $250,000. The Los Angeles district court may impose a lesser sentence due to the plea deal, though.

Jacob is scheduled to appear in court in the coming weeks, the DOJ reported. A DOJ public information officer, Ciaran McEvoy, told Ars that Jacob has not yet pleaded guilty. After an initial court appearance--essentially a bond hearing--a change of plea hearing will be scheduled. If Jacob pleads guilty at that hearing, a federal judge will schedule a sentencing hearing several months later. From there, Jacob would meet with the US Probation Office, which will draft a confidential pre-sentencing report recommending the sentence that the office thinks he deserves. Jacob and the prosecutors can either agree or disagree with that sentencing report, and then, ultimately, a judge will determine what sentence is imposed.

Ars could not immediately reach Jacob or his lawyer for comment. [Update: Jacob's lawyer, Keri Curtis Axel, told Ars, "Trevor is taking full responsibility for his mistake in judgment; he hopes to move past it and to use his status as a world-class action sports athlete, entrepreneur, and influencer to be a source for good in society."]

Destroying and concealing plane crash evidence

A former Olympic snowboarder and experienced pilot and skydiver, Jacob hatched his scheme to allegedly deliberately crash his plane on November 24, 2021, after securing a sponsorship and agreeing to promote a company's wallet in a video. The company has not been named, and there is no mention of wallets in the video titled "I Crashed My Airplane" that's still viewable on YouTube.

YouTube did not respond to Ars' request to comment.

The video currently has 3.3 million views. It starts with a view of Jacob giddily flying over Los Padres National Forest in California.

About a minute and a half into the video, the plane's propeller slows to a stop, and Jacob starts cursing. By the two-minute mark, he jumps out of the plane. Footage from cameras mounted on the plane shows the crash, and Jacob uses a selfie stick to film himself parachuting into a dry brush area, where he incurs minor injuries and is exposed to poison oak.

"I'm just kind of taking in what happened," Jacob said in the video, which then shows him hiking to the crash site to retrieve his cameras before spending what appears to be a harrowing day attempting to find his way out of the wilderness.

"I'm scared," Jacob told his approximately 100,000 subscribers when the video was posted. "I'm in trouble."

However, in his plea agreement, Jacob admitted that he had "planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight and video himself parachuting to the ground and his airplane as it descended and crashed," the DOJ reported.