Lompoc resident Trevor Jacob — the YouTube personality who posted a video of himself crashing his plane in Los Padres National Forest in November 2021 — was sentenced to six months in federal prison this Monday for obstructing a federal investigation into the crash.
The now-30-year-old pilot, skydiver, and former Olympic snowboarder admitted to lying to investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board when he claimed he did not know the wreckage’s location. In fact, on December 10, 2021, Jacob and a friend flew by helicopter to the wreckage site and used straps to secure the wreckage and carry it to Rancho Sisquoc, where it was loaded onto a trailer attached to Jacob’s pickup truck and transported to a hangar at Lompoc City Airport, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. There, “he then cut up and destroyed the airplane wreckage and, over the course of a few days, deposited the detached parts of the wrecked airplane into trash bins at the airport and elsewhere, which was done with the intent to obstruct federal authorities from investigating the November 24 plane crash,” the statement reads.
After disposing of the wreckage, Jacob posted a video of the crash, titled “I Crashed My Plane,” to YouTube on December 23, 2021, a video that racked up millions of views and which prosecutors said he intended to profit from. Prior to the incident, Jacob had secured a sponsorship from a company that sold various products, including a wallet that was featured in the video and which Jacob had agreed to promote in a YouTube video as part of the sponsorship deal.
In the video (which has since been removed from public view on YouTube), Jacob explains his plan to fly from Lompoc City Airport to Mammoth Lakes to spread the ashes of a late friend. A little more than a half hour into the flight, Jacob claims the plane — which had been mounted with cameras prior to taking off — is experiencing engine failure. He then ejects from the aircraft and films himself parachuting to the ground, selfie-stick in hand, as his plane crashes pilot-less into the side of a mountain.
“Jacob lied to federal investigators when he submitted an aircraft accident incident report that falsely indicated that the aircraft experienced a full loss of power approximately 35 minutes after takeoff,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated. “Jacob also lied to an FAA aviation safety inspector when he said the airplane’s engine had quit and, because he could not identify any safe landing options, he had parachuted out of the plane.”
Jacob pleaded guilty on June 30 to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation — a charge that can carry up to a 20-year sentence.
“It appears that [Jacob] exercised exceptionally poor judgment in committing this offense,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. “[Jacob] most likely committed this offense to generate social media and news coverage for himself and to obtain financial gain. Nevertheless, this type of ‘daredevil’ conduct cannot be tolerated.”