Remember that story we brought you what seems like a long time ago about the YouTuber who crashed his plane in a National Forest, parachuting out of it on top of it all, and just happened to capture the whole ordeal on camera?
We’re back with him today and it looks like the Federal Aviation Administration’s verdict is in and it agrees with general Internet-wide sentiment that the whole thing was staged.
You see, you can’t just crash a plane in Los Padres National Forest and expect nothing to come of it. As a result of the FAA’s findings, YouTuber Trevor Jacob’s pilot’s license was revoked. There was a lot of evidence the FAA probably looked over but we have to admit the selfie stick was probably a dead giveaway that something “viral” was afoot. You read that right: The pilot used a selfie stick to film himself escaping from his allegedly crashing plane. Not the first reaction most people would have to critical plane failure, but this is the social media age.
PetaPixel reports that the pilot didn’t contact air traffic control to alert them of his situation and his behavior was contrasted with that of actual, professional pilots and the procedure they would follow in the event of aircraft trouble.
The website also reports, “He also made no attempt to restart the engine nor did he look for a place to make an emergency landing, despite an abundance of locations within gliding range. The FAA adds that Jacob recovered and then disposed of the wreckage afterward. As a result of its findings, the FAA has revoked Jacob’s pilot license.”
When asked for comment, the pilot demurred and referred to advice received from legal counsel according to the New York Times.
One finer point that Jalopnik brings to our attention is that the pilot might only lose his license for one year and is still eligible to fly light aircraft. Even so, the FAA ruling could form the basis for future actions such as fines.
As always, we’d love to know your thoughts on intentionally crashing an airplane to go viral on YouTube in the comments below.
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