YouTuber Trevor Jacob, 28, has had his pilot licence revoked after aviation officials stated he purposely crashed his plane to get more YouTube views.
Last December Jacob shared a video that showcased him flying a light aircraft in California. He can then be seen jumping out of the plane after it reportedly stopped working.
Despite claiming that it was an honest emergency, the YouTuber was already wearing a parachute when he took off, had cameras positioned in the plane and held a selfie stick to capture his fall.
Jacob didn’t contact air traffic control, glide to an area he could have landed in, or try restarting the engine.
America’s Federal Aviation Administration concluded that the YouTuber’s actions were reckless. Their letter to Jacob read: “You demonstrated a lack of care, judgment and responsibility by choosing to jump out of an aircraft solely so you could record the footage of the crash.”
Speaking about the plane crash, Jacob said: “I didn’t think that just posting a video of an adventure gone south would ruffle so many feathers.” He’s also reportedly claimed that he is on the FBI’s terror watchlist.
Many people took to the YouTuber’s comment section under the video titled ‘I crashed my plane’.
YouTuber Travis Taylor said: “As a 10,000hr aeroplane and helicopter pilot I think back to every emergency I ever had and never had the urge to 1) immediately jump out 2) make sure I had a selfie stick ready. This dude is a clown and should do jail time.”
A second commenter wrote: “As a pilot community, we take hundreds of hours training to keep the aircraft safe and sound up in the air. This guy feels like it’s the opposite of what I’ve ever done as a pilot.
“Every pilot knows that you don’t just jump out of the aircraft immediately when you suffer a power loss even though you have a chute.
“It really bothers me that this dude crashes a plane for the YouTube algorithm game in an environment that should be kept professional at all times.”
Jacob is a snowboard cross competitor and extreme sports athlete. He competed in snowboarding in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
