Trevor Jacob "staged" plane crash

[linecrew]

As far as I know, nobody even stubbed a toe in making this video.

I'm curious if there were safeguards in place that ensured this or did it just happen to work out that way.

[Mach1]

I agree with photofly on this one; calling for jail time for an incident like this is totally excessive.

Prison time (a small but reasonable amount) is justified if

he didn't do any of that and was in fact as reckless as it is made to appear in the video.

because of the reckless endangerment of people and property on the ground. The empty aircraft could have hit a building, people out hiking, infrastructure such as power lines, gas pumping stations, roads, rails or any number of items that could have resulted in injury or death of people or damage to property. He could have accidentally started a wild fire with the striking of any or all of the above that may have resulted in more damage and destruction. He would have needed a method of control over the empty aircraft to determine it's crash area.

A little time in jail to discourage future behaviour like this, and/or discourage copy cats, is not out of line.

Now, if he had

called the FAA and other authorities before hand and told them "Look, we're filming something in this area that will involve a small plane crashing into a hill, here's my risk mitigation plan, the plane will contain minimal oil and fuel just for this flight and will be scuttled on private property with the land owner's permission, etc...."

And

If he followed proper procedures for a film shoot

Then, and only then, is jail time not an option. However, the video should be labelled as a commercial would be labelled: Closed track, professional stunt crew, do not attempt.

If it was, as presented, just colossally bad decision making in the face of an actual emergency, it should not result in jail time. However, if I am in an attempt to save my life, I'm not going to take the time to make sure I have my camera filming the whole event from start to finish, making it look like a stunt rather than an accident.

[photofly]

because of the reckless endangerment of people and property on the ground. The empty aircraft could have hit a building, people out hiking, infrastructure such as power lines, gas pumping stations, roads, rails or any number of items that could have resulted in injury or death of people or damage to property.

Did you pay any attention at all to the terrain?

Screen Shot 2022-01-05 at 5.57.40 PM.jpg (616.66 KiB) Viewed 3072 times

[Mach1]

Yes I did. Does that preclude any and all development, recreational users and the fact the aircraft could have continued on a long driftdown to crash outside of the camera view?

Perhaps you need to think things through a little more deeply.

[photofly]

Yes I did. Does that preclude any and all development, recreational users and the fact the aircraft could have continued on a long driftdown to crash outside of the camera view?

It could have. Suppose you were going to pick terrain to stage an aircraft crash; if you wanted to minimize the risk of damage to property or injury, isn't that the kind of terrain you'd pick? While you and I might agree that it alone wasn't an adequate precaution, the choice of terrain does suggest someone who was neither indifferent to risk nor oblivious to it. If this stunt had been staged over downtown Los Angeles, you'd have a stronger argument.

Perhaps you need to think things through a little more deeply.

Perhaps you do.

[Mach1]

Perhaps you do.

Oh yeah? Well I'm rubber and you're glue.

Seriously, I can't believe you are defending his actions. As I stated, if all the proper precautions were taken, NOTAM's issued, and a method of controlling where the aircraft crashed was in place... I have no issue with this other than the need for a warning label. If it was a stunt without any of that, it is inexcusable. The fact you are defending it says a lot more about you that it does anything else.

Oh well, I have better things to do than argue with someone who defends the indefensible.

[Posthumane]

I can't speak on behalf of others, but I'm not defending his actions as I hate seeing a good aircraft destroyed for entertainment. I am, however, comparing this situation to that of other entertainers that wreck things on purpose for entertainment. Every time that the Top Gear crew rolls a vehicle off a cliff somewhere, there is a chance that something could go wrong such as a fire. In fact, they have had a number of injuries on that show from their stunts. They do put in place measures to minimize the risks of their stunts, but those measures do not completely eliminate them. My disagreement with the "throw him in jail" crowd is twofold:
a) There is an assumption being made that he did not take any precautions to make his stunt somewhat safe, but you can't convict someone based on an assumption. Some level of safety can be achieved by picking the appropriate area, getting permission from the landowner, ensuring there is no infrastructure where the plane is expected to crash, and rigging the plane to crash in a predicable manner (there are various ways to do this with different levels of precision). He may have done all, some, or none of those things, but until the matter is investigated the best anyone here can say is that they don't know how much he did or did not do. The fact that it looks ad-hoc does not necessarily tell the story, as many TV stunts are made to look ad-hoc and there are not "warning labels" on them. Top Gear doesn't state that their car crashes are created on a closed course by professional drivers, because quite often they are not.
b) There is a legal precedent for how much punishment is awarded for certain actions. Creating a condition which could endanger people is something that is punishable, but does not garner as strong a punishment as if people were actually hurt. For example, if you go twice the speed limit you create the potential to injure or kill someone with your car, and that would merit at least a fine, and possibly a suspension of your driving license. If you go twice the speed limit and actually kill someone because of the danger you created you will face a much harsher punishment, even though the difference between the two situations is largely based on luck.

I may not like the guy or what he did, but the judicial system is not a popularity contest and I would not want it to become one.

[gwagen]

You fellows should check out some of his other flying videos and “stories”

He is in my opinion at a minimum, a menace to aviation.

[PilotDAR]

You fellows should check out some of his other flying videos and “stories”

No, we should not. Giving this irresponsible person any publicity or "views" just validates his dumb behaviour - ignore him, totally. Everyone should turn their back on him, and get on with being professional pilots!

[airway]

because of the reckless endangerment of people and property on the ground. The empty aircraft could have hit a building, people out hiking, infrastructure such as power lines, gas pumping stations, roads, rails or any number of items that could have resulted in injury or death of people or damage to property.

Did you pay any attention at all to the terrain?


Screen Shot 2022-01-05 at 5.57.40 PM.jpg

This Youtuber did a decent analysis of Jacob's flightpath. He says Jacob carefully edited out any view behind the aircraft, as it would have shown more civilization and flatter terrain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRSZuC84CEg

Other red flags:
The N number is never clearly shown in the video.
This aircraft is not the same one that he flies in his other videos, and is not registered to him. Either he just bought it, and it's not registered in his name yet, or he borrowed it from somebody.






.

[photofly]

I hope didn’t borrow it; he’s not going to be able to return it.

[Bonez]

- No video of the inside of the cabin before losing power.
- Flew in the wrong direction
- Wore skydiving gear which he doesnt in any other video
- Opened the door before the engine cut out
- Crashed into a national park (no chance of getting authorization)
- No attempt to restart
- Slows the plane down to where the propeller isn't spinning
- Interfered with the scene of the crash by recovering his cameras
- Chartered a helicopter to remove the wreckage before NTSB and FAA investigated

Except for not having enough fuel to make it to his destination and thus avoiding casuing a forest fire I don't know what else he could have done wrong.

[AirFrame]

I hope didn’t borrow it; he’s not going to be able to return it.

Oh, he can return it. At significant cost. Whether it'll fly again is another question.

[rxl]

Steady.

How do you feel about people who crash cars and trucks to make videos and movies? Any idea how many vehicles get intentionally wrecked, crashed, destroyed, detonated for each new Bond movie?

Haven’t you enjoyed Top Gear flinging old cars and caravans down mountainsides and into quarries?

Never watched Mythbusters destroy vehicles?

What’s the difference? Why all the hate just because it had wings?

Big difference. These other destructo-fests that you use as examples are done under controlled conditions where steps are taken to ensure that innocent bystanders can’t be hurt and there’s little or no risk for unintended property damage. Once this clown exited the airplane, he had little idea and obviously no control over where the airplane would end up.Totally irresponsible. I hope they throw the book at him.

[Chris M]

- No video of the inside of the cabin before losing power.
- Flew in the wrong direction
- Wore skydiving gear which he doesnt in any other video
- Opened the door before the engine cut out
- Crashed into a national park (no chance of getting authorization)
- No attempt to restart
- Slows the plane down to where the propeller isn't spinning
- Interfered with the scene of the crash by recovering his cameras
- Chartered a helicopter to remove the wreckage before NTSB and FAA investigated

Except for not having enough fuel to make it to his destination and thus avoiding casuing a forest fire I don't know what else he could have done wrong.

One more to add: Has a fire extinguisher strapped to his leg under his pants. Presumably to save his cameras and recover the footage.

[broken_slinky]

One more to add: Has a fire extinguisher strapped to his leg under his pants. Presumably to save his cameras and recover the footage.

You don't fly with a fire extinguisher strapped to your leg under your pants? Don't know where you got your training but it was obviously some inferior school. That's like lesson 1.2 in the ground school.

[imjustlurking]

His punishment should be to redo the crash, but without a parachute or a fire extinguisher.

With a punishment like that, he definitely won't pull the same reckless stunt again.

[MrWings]

Are we convinced it "crashed" as shown on the video? Could that just be an edit to make it look like it crashed?

I guess he probably wouldn't have been carrying a fire extinguisher if that was the case.

[broken_slinky]

Are we convinced it "crashed" as shown on the video? Could that just be an edit to make it look like it crashed?

The crash of the plane captured on the two cameras from about 3:30 on is the most realistic part of the whole video. Would have taken some pretty impressive skills to green screen that bird crashing into the terrain. That boy doesn't come across as that bright to be able to pull that off.

[photofly]

Way cheaper to buy a real plane and crash it

[broken_slinky]

Looks like the fine folks at the FAA pulled his license.
https://www.flyingmag.com/faa-pulls-pil ... ane-crash/

[JasonE]

Hopefully for good if it really was a stunt.

[Lurch]

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/you ... stigation/

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced today in a memo that YouTuber Trevor Jacob, 29, agreed yesterday (May 10) to plead guilty to a felony charge for obstructing a federal investigation. According to the plea agreement with the U.S. States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Jacob admits he deliberately destroyed the wreckage of the airplane he intentionally crashed “to gain online views.” Also according to the DOJ memo, Jacob “had secured a sponsorship from a company that sold various products, including a wallet. Pursuant to the sponsorship deal, Jacob agreed to promote the company’s wallet in a YouTube video that he would post.”

As previously reported, Jacob claimed that the engine of his vintage Taylorcraft quit on Nov. 24, 2021, and he was forced to bail out over hostile terrain. He posted a YouTube video of the incident about a month later that included promotional material for the wallet. Virtually everyone in the aviation community who watched the video immediately cried foul, citing multiple inconsistencies in his story.

Jacob’s pilot certificate was revoked in April 2022. But now, he faces obstruction charges that could result in a federal prison term of as much as 20 years, according to the DOJ memo.

It wasn’t until two days after the crash that Jacob reported it to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which then launched an investigation. NTSB investigators told Jacob he was responsible for preserving the wreckage and he agreed to provide investigators with the exact location of the Taylorcraft and his video footage of the accident from aircraft-mounted cameras and from a camera mounted on a selfie stick that he used to record the parachute jump.

However, according to the memo, Jacob instead lied to NTSB and FAA investigators in the following weeks, saying he didn’t know the location of the crash. And on Dec. 10, 2021, he and a friend removed the wreckage with a helicopter and used Jacob’s truck to tow it to Lompoc City Airport.

According to the DOJ memo, “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 he admitted in his plea agreement was done with the intent to obstruct federal authorities from investigating the November 24 plane crash.”

The memo continued, “Jacob further admitted he 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. 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.”

[flyingcanuck]

Straight to jail

[YYZSaabGuy]

Straight to jail

Yep. Once again, it's not the crime, it's the cover-up: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/ ... niel-jacob

YouTuber jailed after staging plane crash in California to make video

Trevor Daniel Jacob, 30, sentenced to six months for obstructing investigation by destroying wreckage
Associated Press in Los Angeles Tue 5 Dec 2023 09.19 GMT

An influencer who staged a plane crash in California to make a YouTube video of himself parachuting to safety has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for obstructing the investigation by destroying the wreckage.

Trevor Daniel Jacob, 30, an experienced pilot and skydiver, pleaded guilty in June to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.

The video titled I Crashed My Airplane appeared in December 2021 and purported to show Jacob’s small plane have engine failure over the mountainous Los Padres national forest in Santa Barbara county. Already wearing a parachute, he jumped out with a selfie stick camera in hand.

His jump and the aircraft’s plunge were recorded by cameras mounted on the plane’s wing and tail and by the camera he carried. After landing, he hiked to the crash site and recovered video from the onboard cameras, the government said.

The justice department said Jacob lied that he did not know the location of the wreckage. Photograph: youtube.com/@trevorjacob
According to the plea agreement, Jacob had a sponsorship deal to promote a company’s product in a video he would post, and he never intended to complete the 24 November 2021 flight.

The justice department said Jacob later informed federal investigators about the crash, was told he was responsible for preserving the wreckage, agreed to determine its location – and then lied that he did not know the location.

On 10 December 2021, Jacob and a friend flew to the site in a helicopter that was used to lift the wreckage and fly it to a trailer attached to his pickup truck, according to the agreement. The plane was later cut up, and the parts were disposed of in trash bins.

Jacob, of Lompoc, California, had his pilot licence revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2022.