Trevor Jacob crash: YouTuber plane crash explained - what happened, did he crash on purpose?

The US Justice Department has said that YouTuber Trevor Jacob will plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation by destroying crash wreckage after he intentionally crashed his plane for views. He is due to appear in court in the coming weeks. 

According to local media reports, the YouTuber has signed a plea agreement which was filed in Los Angeles. In the agreement, Jacob, 29, said that he filmed the video in question as part of a product sponsorship deal. He could face up to 20 years in prison. 

This is everything you need to know. 

What happened?

On 24 December 2021, Jacob uploaded a YouTube video to his account which depicted the events of a month prior, on 24 November 2021, titled “I Crashed My Plane”. 

On the day of the incident, Jacob took off from Lompoc Airport in his vintage single-engine light aircraft, claiming that he was heading to Mammoth Mountain in order to spread the ashes of his late friend Johnny Strange, who died in 2015 while BASE jumping, aged 23. 

The aircraft itself was fitted with a number of different cameras and Jacob himself carried a selfie stick. During the flight, Jacob was wearing a large skydiving parachute - something which experts pointed out was highly unusual, especially given how small the plane was. 

Jacob claimed in the video that he always flies with a parachute, however previous videos contradicted this statement as he could be seen flying without a parachute. 

During the flight, the engine supposedly stopped running and around 35 minutes after taking off, the plane crashed into the Los Padres National Forest, with Jacob parachuting to safety. In the video, Jacob could be seen not carrying out the various basic emergency procedures, including attempting to restart the engine or contacting air traffic control. 

Following accusations that he crashed the plane deliberately, Jacob said in a statement: “I’ll happily say I did not purposely crash my plane for views on YouTube.”

He continued: “Given my background, I could see why people would think that. I’ve been filming everything I do since I was five years old. Documenting this trip was no different than any other day for me.” 

“People can believe whatever they choose. They have the freedom to do just that,” Jacob added. 

The YouTube video of the crash has been viewed over 3m times. 

What has the Justice Department said?

Jacob was accused of deliberately crashing the plane to get attention on social media, with the Justice Department stating that after the incident, Jacob hiked back to the crash site to recover the video footage from the cameras on the plane. 

Two days after the crash, Jacob alerted the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) but told investigators that he didn’t know where the wreckage site was. 

Authorities say that on 10 December 2021, Jacob and a friend flew out to the crash site to collect the video footage from the plane. He then towed the plane to Santa Barbara county where, over the course of a few days, destroyed the evidence of the crash. Jacob disposed of parts of the plane in different bins, which officials say he admitted to doing in order to throw off investigators. 

In April 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revoked Jacob’s private pilot certificate after it ruled that he had intended for the plane to crash.

The FAA that Jacob’s had “operated this flight to purposely cause [his plane] to crash”, listing the following reasons for its findings:

• Prior to the flight, Jacob attached multiple cameras to the outside of the plane, including one pointing at the propellor in order to record footage of the outside and inside of the plane
• The fact that Jacob wore a “sport parachute backpack container” during the flight
• The during the flight, Jacob opened the left side pilot door before he claimed that the engine had failed
• Prior to jumping out of the aircraft, Jacob made no attempt to contact Air Traffic Control on the emergency frequency 
• Prior to jumping out the plane, Jacob “made no attempt to restart the engine by increasing airflow over the propeller” 
• Prior to jumping, Jacob made “no attempt to look for areas to land safely even though there were multiple areas within gliding range in which [he] could have made a safe landing”
• The fact that Jacob continued to record himself with the selfie stick after jumping, and filmed the aircraft
• That after the crash, Jacob recovered the cameras that he had attached to the plane 

Who is Trevor Jacob?

Jacob is an American snowboarder and YouTuber who represented the United States in the 2014 Winter Olympics in the snowboarding division. At the time, Jacob was able to make it to the semifinals of the men’s snowboard cross, however he failed to qualify for the finals and ultimately finished in ninth place. 

He has also competed in snowboard cross at the Winter X Games in 2014, 2015 and 2016, with his best result coming in fifth place during the 2016 competition. 

As well as snowboarding, Jacob is also involved in a number of other extreme sports, including motocross, surging, skateboarding, mixed martial arts, BMX riding and was part of the Nitro Circus collective led by professional motorsport rider and stunt performer Travis Pastrana. 

On his YouTube channel, Jacob would post content involving skydiving, snowboarding and aviation, with the channel amassing over 138k subscribers.