A YouTuber, also a pilot, who intentionally crashed his plane while fleeing in the air before publishing the video on the Internet, faces up to 20 years in prison, the American authorities said on Thursday.
• Also read: A YouTuber loses his pilot’s license for intentionally crashing his plane
In his video entitled “I crashed my plane”, which has been viewed almost 3 million times, the YouTuber films himself in flight over California in November 2021.
Trevor Jacob appears to have a technical problem during the flight and ends up falling off the plane, selfie stick in hand, to parachute-land in the middle of nature.
The plane crashes spectacularly in Los Padres National Forest – all filmed by cameras mounted on the plane.
Trevor Jacob then goes to the rubble, where he is disappointed to find that the supply of water he was carrying is gone.
Viewers then see him advancing through bushes and hills, seemingly struggling to regain civilization. He explains that he is thirsty and feels lost.
A few weeks later, federal authorities launched an investigation to determine the circumstances of the crash. Trevor Jacob had been instructed to keep the wreckage of his plane.
The YouTuber said he didn’t know where the plane crashed, but according to court documents, he and a friend pulled the wreckage out of the woods using a helicopter two weeks after the incident.
He then cut the plane into small pieces and threw them in garbage cans.
Trevor Jacob admitted that he wanted to hamper the investigation by removing the rubble and that he made the video to earn money as part of a partnership with a company.
He also admitted to lying when he told investigators that the plane had experienced a technical problem, according to a Justice Department statement.
The YouTuber pleaded guilty to destroying and hiding evidence to obstruct a federal investigation, a crime carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.