About a year and a half ago, a 29-year-old former Olympic snowboarder jumped out of his single-propeller plane on a flight from Lompoc to Mammoth Lakes, claiming he parachuted out of the aircraft because of engine trouble.
It was a lie — a videotaped stunt intended to bring viewers to the pilot’s YouTube page.
The pilot, Trevor Jacob, agreed to plead guilty Thursday to a felony charge of “obstructing a federal investigation by deliberately destroying the wreckage of an airplane that he intentionally crashed in Santa Barbara County to gain online views,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California.
He was charged with 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. Jacob is “expected to make his initial court appearance in the coming weeks” for a bond hearing, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sentencing is probably months away and must follow a formal plea hearing.
Jacob’s pilot’s license was also revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration, which used Jacob’s YouTube video as evidence against him, in April.
The incident took place on Nov. 24, 2021, and produced a video by Jacob titled “I Crashed My Airplane,” which drew immediate scorn from commenters and has since drawn nearly 3 million views. Jacob, reached by email, declined to comment.
The video begins with a smooth takeoff from Lompoc City Airport. High above the mountains, Jacob tells the camera he is going to Mammoth Lakes, at one point holding up the ashes of his friend Johnny Strange, who died in 2015 while BASE jumping in the Swiss Alps.
Around a minute into the video, the plane’s propeller stops and Jacob opens the door, cursing and saying he has an engine out.
He begins to make his way out the door, ultimately jumping and leaving his plane unoccupied as he parachutes down to the ground. Cameras on board the plane capture its final moments as it drifts toward a mountainside in Los Padres National Forest.
When Jacob lands, he claims to be without cell service. He finds the wreckage of his plane and hikes for hours until being rescued by nearby farmers after dark.
According to the FAA, the plane crash was intentional, and there was plenty of evidence to prove it: Jacobs installed cameras on the plane prior to flight, including one pointed at the propeller; he flew with a parachute on; he opened the pilot door before claiming the engine had failed; he did not attempt to restart the engine, contact air traffic control or find a safe place to land.
Jacobs’ use of a selfie stick to record his descent after abandoning the plane also drew scorn from commenters and the FAA. The FAA claims he “recovered and then disposed of the wreckage” of his plane but recovered the cameras involved in the process.
The Justice Department release says that Jacob had obtained a sponsorship from a company whose wallet he would promote in the plane video.
A previous version of the video showed Jacobs advertising a promotional link for the Ridge Wallet while standing in front of the plane. The link he advertised, which contained his name, still worked for an active promotion on the Ridge’s website as of Thursday.
Representatives for the Ridge did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the state of their partnership with Jacob.
Two days after the doomed flight, on Nov. 26, 2021, the National Transportation Safety Board began its investigation, according to the Justice Department. The FAA followed suit three days later.
The plea agreement states that in the weeks that followed, Jacob “lied to investigators that he did not know the wreckage’s location,” when in fact he and a friend had towed the wreckage using a helicopter to Rancho Sisquoc, then placed it in Jacob’s pickup truck and took it to a hangar at Lompoc City Airport.
Jacob admits in the agreement that he then “cut up and destroyed the airplane wreckage,” then “deposited the detached parts of the wrecked airplane into trash bins at the airport and elsewhere” with the intent of obstructing the federal investigations.
He also admitted in the plea agreement that his decision to parachute out of the plane was not driven by engine failure or lack of safe landing options.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
