FAA Rules YouTuber Trevor Jacob Purposely Crashed Airplane
The Federal Aviation Administration has ruled that YouTuber Trevor Jacob crashed his 1940 Taylorcraft into the Los Padres National Forest in California on purpose.
Trevor Jacob, a 28-year-old former snowboarding Olympian turned YouTuber filmed a video back in November 2021 flying his 1940 Taylorcraft airplane. In the video he says he intends to take-off from Lompoc City airport in Santa Barbara and fly to Mammoth Lakes to snowboard, however when flying above Los Padres National Forest he claims the aircraft’s engine fails and precedes to parachute out of the airplane screaming expletives when the propeller stops spinning “I’m just so happy to be alive” he says after he land in prickly brushes. He proceeded to document his six-hour hike through the forest in which he finds the mangled wreckage of his plane, later a farmer finds him at dusk and helps.
Almost immediately after he posted the video to YouTube on December 24th viewers and aviation experts started to express doubts over his portrayal of the crash. They claimed it was staged and that Trevor had done it for views, they noted many facts about the video such as wearing a parachute, not trying to restart the engine, not contacting air traffic control, and even having a selfie stick on hand to record himself jumping out of the aircraft.
In a letter sent to Trevor Jacob by the FAA on April 11, the FAA said he had violated federal aviation regulations and operated his single-engine aircraft in a “careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.” The agency said it would immediately revoke Trevor Jacob’s private pilot certificate, effectively suspending his license to operate any aircraft.
When contacted by The New York Times via email Trevor appeared unaware of the FAA’s ruling and replied, “Where’d you get that information?” to their email, they also said he did not immediately respond to follow-up emails.
Trevor Jacob posted a video to his YouTube channel last week in which he addressed the airplane crash controversy saying “I can’t talk about it, per my attorney. But the truth of that situation will come out with time, and I’ll leave that at that.”
The FAA does not have the ability to prosecute Trevor, it can only revoke and suspend certificates as well as issue fines. The FAA has ordered Trevor to surrender his private pilot license (PPL) threatening further legal action if he does not do so, this includes a penalty of up to $1,644 for each day he does not surrender it.