YouTuber loses pilot's licence after deliberately crashing plane for clicks

YouTubers often go above and beyond for views, but one content creator went to really extreme lengths to produce a hit video recently.

Pilot Trevor Jacob had had his licence taken away after crashing his aircraft intentionally for the sake of clicks.

Jacob claimed in a video filmed on November 24 and posted in December last year that his plane had failed and that he was forced to jump from the craft.

It’s since been found that Jacob demonstrated a 'lack of care, judgement, and responsibility' and is considering leaving the pilot community altogether.

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“I’m over the mountains and I … have an engine out,” he says in the video.

He was flying over the California’s Los Padres national forest in a 1940 Taylorcraft BL-65, when he parachuted out of it and left it to crash.

More than 2.3million people have now seen the video titled ‘I crashed my plane’.

I Crashed My Planewww.youtube.com

Earlier this month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it had revoked his licence.

The administration said in an official letter: “On November 24, 2021, you demonstrated a lack of care, judgment, and responsibility by choosing to jump out of an aircraft solely so you could record the footage of the crash.”

The FAA also said that Jacob had added cameras to the exterior of the aircraft in "in order to record video footage of the outside and inside of the plane during the flight.”

It also stated that he had failed to contact air traffic control, try to find a safe landing zone or even attempt to restart the engine while still in the air.

Jacob responded to the decision by posting a clip of himself handing in his licence and admitting he was considering quitting piloting.

He said the pilot community "has been pretty tough" on the video and saying that he is "thinking about quitting altogether and giving up, just because I’m hated."

I Lost My Pilots Licensewww.youtube.com

It’s something the comments in the main video attest to, with other professional pilots having their say in no uncertain terms.

“As a 10,000hr airplane and helicopter pilot I think back to every emergency I ever had and never had the urge to 1) immediately jump out 2) make sure I had a selfie stick ready. This dude is a clown and should do jail time,” one wrote.

Another added: “If this wasn’t staged, you’re a bad pilot. If this was staged, you’re possibly a criminal.”

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