Watch: 30-year-old YouTuber jailed for six months for staging plane crash to get likes

A 30-year-old YouTuber, who is also a former Olympic athlete, was sentenced to six months in prison for staging a small plane crash to make the video viral on social media.

Trevor Daniel Jacob, an experienced pilot and skydiver, admitted in June that he intentionally crashed his plane to capture the moment on a video in November 2021, and garner likes, federal prosecutors in California said in a news release.

He was charged with one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.

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The video titled “I Crashed My Airplane” appeared in December 2021 and appeared to show Jacob’s small plane having an engine failure over the mountainous Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County.

The daredevil stunt that cost him

He then jumps out with a selfie stick camera and pulls out a parachute he was already wearing.

The cameras mounted on the plane’s wing and tail also captured the moments before the crash and Jacob’s plunge.

After landing, he headed towards the crash site and recovered video from the onboard cameras, the government said.

Upon being questioned Jacob lied to the federal investigators about not knowing the crash site, federal prosecutors in the Central District of California said on Monday (Dec 4).

He had also lied to a Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector.

Lied to probing officials

According to prosecutors, Jacob was told days after the crash to preserve the site and inform the National Transportation Safety Board where it was.

Instead, he found the crash site and on December 10, 2021, used a helicopter to lift the wreckage out of the Los Padres National Forest. Then, bit by bit, he dismantled and disposed of the wreckage in an attempt to thwart the federal investigation, prosecutors said in the statement.

“It appears that (Jacob) exercised exceptionally poor judgment in committing this offence,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum.

“(Jacob) most likely committed this offence to generate social media and news coverage for himself and to obtain financial gain. Nevertheless, this type of ‘daredevil’ conduct cannot be tolerated.”

Jacob’s attorneys requested that he be sent to probation instead of prison time, writing in court documents the snowboarder was “living alone in his hanger” during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and made a “series of bad choices that culminated in the offence to which he has pleaded guilty.”

In a letter to the judge, Jacob wrote he was “sincerely sorry” and that he had “suffered a lot of consequences from this offence.”