YouTuber who staged a plane crash opens up about 'biggest mistake of his life' before prison sentence
YouTuber Trevor Jacob took full responsibility for staging a plane crash while also advising the public to learn from his mistake and not get in the “disgusting feedback loop of dopamine and adrenaline” for views and likes.
Weeks before his six-month prison sentence, Jacob, who is also an experienced pilot and skydiver, talked about his current charges during his interview with Good Morning America.
Detailing the incident in November 2021, Jacob said he planned out the stunt Los Padres National Forest in California.
“I made sure that there was no fuel in the plane, made absolutely sure that there was nobody in that vicinity,” he told the outlet.
He went on that he initially “had no idea” that he was committing a crime with the stunt. “It turned out that I actually committed five felonies,” he said.
The former Olympic athlete added that he immediately regretted the stunt as soon as he jumped out of the perfectly working plane.
"When I jumped out of the plane, I'm like, 'You just made the biggest mistake of your life,’” he recounted. Despite this, he still uploaded the video on Dec. 23, 2021, titled “I Crashed My Airplane” which contained a sponsorship deal.
When asked why he decided to upload the video despite knowing that it was a mistake, Jacob said that he “was just grateful to be alive.”
“I saw the footage didn’t get destroyed, may as well put this online, which was another terrible mistake,” he said.
After the stunt, Jacob shared that he alerted the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after the crash but lied that he did not know the whereabouts of the wreckage. He later retrieved the plane himself and destroyed it.
In June 2023, Jacob pleaded guilty to “one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.” In December of the same year, he was sentenced to six months of imprisonment, set to begin on Jan. 29.
Learning from the ordeal, he said he takes full responsibility for his act.
“I don’t think that this type of behavior is okay,” he admitted.
He added that he’d be “happy to be looked at as the idiot” to prevent the public, especially kids, from committing the same mistake solely for views and likes.
“Let’s learn from this mistake. Let’s not get in this disgusting feedback loop of dopamine and adrenaline and views and likes,” he said, adding, “I’m happy to be looked at as the idiot to show kids, 'Hey, don’t do this type of stuff.'”