YouTuber Trevor Jacob accused of crashing plane on purpose for views

Former Olympic snowboarder turned YouTuber Trevor Jacob has been accused of crashing a plane on purpose for views and attention on social media.

“I Crashed My Plane,” is the title of a December 24 YouTube upload from Jacob. As the name implies, the former athlete was involved in an incident that saw him parachuting into the Nevada mountains after an alleged engine failure.

Described as “the most intense experience of his life,” Jacob launched himself out of the plane moments after things appeared to go awry.

The video, seen by almost 400,000 viewers at the time of writing, has become a point of controversy early in 2022. With comments disabled and an investigation launched by the Federal Aviation Administration, many are questioning whether it was staged.

Jacob intended to fly over the mountains to spread the ashes of a friend. Shortly into the trek, however, his engine supposedly failed. With “no safe place to land,” he immediately jumped and glided down to safety.

“I did not think I would make it out alive,” he said on Instagram. “I promised myself I’d always fly that route with a parachute after a friend died on the same flight path, and it came in handy.”

“Please fly with a parachute,” his latest video reiterated, despite previous uploads clearly showing him flying without a parachute.

Almost every reply to Jacob’s Instagram post is critical of the incident. While some labeled him a “con artist,” others went as far as to call him an “embarrassment to aviators everywhere.”

“It’s all very suspect,” flight instructor Robert Perry told the Santa Barbara Independent. Jacob’s plane was allegedly in a “state of disrepair” before taking off, indicating the crash may have been planned.

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Furthermore, Perry believed a safe landing was more than possible. “From the looks of it, he could’ve guided that plane 15 or 20 more miles and landed it on more level ground,” he explained.

YouTube: TrevorJacob

Jacobs first instinct was to jump from the plane before checking for another solution.

“We never see inside of the cockpit,” popular YouTuber ‘moistcr1tikal’ said in his own dissection on January 6. 

“Not a single time while the engine is apparently malfunctioning, do we see anything in the cockpit. We only get the exterior shots.”

“There are so many things that make this video suspicious.”

Jacob has been silent across social media since criticisms began piling up.

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With an official investigation still underway, it’s only a matter of time before we learn the truth behind the video.