FAA says YouTuber deliberately crashed plane for his video that got over 1 million views

KOMO ^ | April 21st 2022 | ZACHARY ROGERS

[BenLurkin]

In the video titled “I Crashed My Plane,” Jacob can be seen diving out of the civilian aircraft and popping his parachute. He claims in the video the airplane malfunctioned while it was flying over the Los Padres National Forest in California.

The video was reportedly met with some skepticism, with some believing the crash was staged. The FAA agreed it seemed "odd" Jacob was wearing a parachute at the time of the crash, the NYT reported.

Furthermore, according to the FAA's letter, authorities took note that Jacob didn't make an attempt to contact air traffic control, and also didn't attempt to restart the airplane's engine.

It was also perceivably possible Jacob could have safely glided to numerous landing spots around the area, but the FAA says Jacob didn't attempt to do so.

[Jonty30]

So for the price of having earned $50, he’s going to get smacked with thousands of fines and possible lifetime ban on getting a pilot’s license.

[DesertRhino]

“The FAA agreed it seemed “odd” Jacob was wearing a parachute at the time of the crash, the NYT reported.”

It’s not normal in everyday GA, but some people actually do.

[algore]

I wanted to know the rest of story.

Thanks

[Ken H]

“You in a heap o’ trouble, boy.”

[Zuriel]

And trashed a cheap airplane that probably stalls at about 30 knots, and could land uphill in less than 100’.

[fireman15]

Horrible waste of a 1940 Taylorcraft. The stall speed is just 33 mph and he had lots of altitude. There is no excuse that he didn't glide it in if he had an engine problem. Even if he landed in rough terrain it is likely he would have walked away and the plane would have been salvageable. I was a member of a vintage aircraft club. One time I flew with another guy down to Oregon in a prewar WWII Taylorcraft. We had a headwind so cars were traveling faster than us on the freeway below.

I do sometimes bring along a hang glider parachute when flying my ultralight airplane over mountains, but it has a single cylinder Rotax snowmobile engine and is made out of Styrofoam. My life insurance doesn't cover me when flying it. Even then it would take an extraordinary problem to cause me to bale out instead of gliding it in.

For those curious what type of plane is made out of Styrofoam... it is homemade from plans, called a skypup and looks like this:

Mine is painted in the colors of a WWII trainer, yellow and blue.

[fireman15]

Sorry, typo the plane we flew to Oregon was a Pre-WWII Taylorcraft.

[Signalman]

18 U.S. Code § 32 - Destruction of aircraft or aircraft, says, in part:

(a)Whoever willfully—
(1)sets fire to, damages, destroys, disables, or wrecks any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States or any civil aircraft used, operated, or employed in interstate, overseas, or foreign air commerce;

shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years or both.

[matt04]

Idiot. Like he didn’t think recording what he knew would be a viral video of a plane crash from multiple angles would get the attention of the FAA.

[IYAS9YAS]

It’s not normal in everyday GA, but some people actually do.

He also hid a small fire extinguisher under one of his pant legs. He crashed it in a fairly dry area. Guess he was good with destroying a vintage plane, but not causing a brush fire.

[dangus]

$50? Dozens of YouTube stars make tens of millions each year PER YEAR.

[Jonty30]

I don’t know what he earns yearly, but this one video made him about $3. It might be somewhat more until Youtube pulls the video for violating something.

The $50 I was exaggerating, but it appears that my point wasn’t far off.

https://youtubemoneycalculator.com/

[dangus]

Oh, I was talking what he was HOPING to make when he gets famous.

[battousai]

You’re not using the tool right... that’s $2.50-$3 CPM... i.e. per thousand views... using your site with a million views on the video... he has made between $1-1.5 million.