Washington [US], May 13 : A 29-year-old US YouTuber, Trevor Del Jacob will plead guilty to a federal charge after he destroyed the wreckage of a plane he purposefully crashed to gain views, Justice Department officials announced, reported CNN.
He posted a video of himself crashing a small plane in California in November 2021 and is pleading on one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, the US Justice Department said.
On November 24, 2021, Jacob took off from an airport in Lompoc on a solo flight in a Taylorcraft BL-65 purportedly destined for Mammoth Lakes, California.
However, after flying for 35 minutes Jacob jumped out of the plane while flying over a forest and filmed himself parachuting to the ground as well as his aircraft crashing, reported Sky News.
After landing, Jacob retrieved data from the plane which appeared to show it descending to the ground and subsequently recovered the wreckage, which he then destroyed, according to the Justice Department.
The YouTuber reported the crash to the National Transportation Safety Board two days later and agreed to share the site of the wreck. But he instead lied to authorities that he did not know where the crash site was and roughly two weeks later, flew to the site with a friend, loaded up the wreckage and later destroyed it, according to the release, which cites the plea agreement.
Roughly a month after the wreck, he uploaded a video on YouTube called "I Crashed My Airplane," showing the crash and Jacob parachuting from the plane, reported CNN.
Some viewers were suspicious of the stunt, with a number of comments pointing out Jacob was already wearing a parachute, made no attempt to glide the aircraft to a safe landing area, and took his camera and selfie stick with him when abandoning the plane.
He also admitted to lying to federal investigators after submitting an aircraft accident incident report and falsely claimed the plane fully lost power roughly half an hour after take-off, the news release said.
"Jacob also lied to (a Federal Aviation Administration) 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," it added.
The FAA revoked Jacob's pilot license last year, according to the release. Jacob is expected to appear in court in the coming weeks.
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