The Federal Aviation Administration has decided to revoke the pilot’s license of a YouTube star after the star filmed himself crashing his plane.
Trevor Jacob crashed his plane while flying over the Los Padres National Forest in California in November of 2021.
Despite crashing the plane, he managed to capture the 12-minute ordeal on video.
Jacob then posted the video on YouTube where it has since received more than 1.7 million views.
The FAA reported that after an investigation, they believe Jacob “purposely” crashed his plane for views.
“You operated this flight to purposely cause N29508 to crash,” the FAA said in a letter to Jacob dated April 11, 2022.
The FAA also stated that Jacob was “careless or reckless so as to endanger the life or property of another” and ordered him to surrender his private pilot’s license effective immediately.
Despite the FAA’s statements, Jacob told ABC News that his engine failed so he had to leave the plane:
“I did not jump out of my plane for views,” Jacob told ABC News. “Some say my aircraft N29508 is still in perfect condition inside an airport hangar.”
Investigators say while Jacob claimed that the engine failed, he did not try to restart the engine nor did he contact air-traffic control to report the incident.
They also noted that the YouTuber was wearing a parachute the whole time he was operating the plane and did not look for areas to land safely before bailing.
After crashing the plane, Jacob was said to have gone to the crash site to retrieve the camera mounted to the plane.
Jacob will now be subjected to a fine of $1,644 per day until he surrenders his license. He will also be ineligible from renewing his license for a year.