Olympic snowboarder turned YouTuber is investigated by FAA for ‘crashing his plane for clicks’: Suspicious video shows vlogger parachuting out of camera-laden aircraft before letting it crash into hills

• Olympic snowboarder Trevor Jacob, 28, is the subject of NTSB and FAA investigation after November 24 small plane crash in California mountains 
• Jacob caused a stir when he posted video last month showing him parachuting out of TaylorcraftBL64 and letting the plane crash into a hillside 
• Jacob claimed aircraft experienced engine trouble and he decided to ditch it because there was no safe place to land it 
• But aviation enthusiasts questioned Jacob’s motives, raising the possibility he staged the crash for the sake of online fame  

YouTube personality and former Olympic snowboarder Trevor Jacob has found himself at the center of a federal investigation after posting a video online that shows him jumping out of a small plane with a parachute and letting the aircraft crash into a California hillside.

Aviation enthusiasts who have viewed the video were quick to question whether the adventurer and daredevil may have ditched his second-hand plane, which appeared to be poorly maintained, on purpose in pursuit of viral fame.   

Jacob, 28, who competed in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, uploaded the video, titled, ‘I Crashed My Plane,’ on his popular YouTube channel on Christmas Eve.

As of Thursday, the edited 13-minute recording, which follows Jacob’s brief flight, parachute jump and hours-long trek through a rugged terrain, has drawn more than a million views.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vbYszLNZxhM%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1

Olympic snowboarder Trevor Jacob, 28, is the subject of an FAA investigation after crashing his single-engine plane in the California mountains on November 24

In a viral video posted by Jacob last month, the athlete and adventurer takes off from Lompoc City Airport to fly to Mammoth Lakes, California 

Jacob says in the video his plan was to spread the ashes of his friend, Johnny Strange (pictured), who died in a BASE jumping accident in 2015 

But the clip also has attracted much negative attention from the aviation community, where many experts and enthusiasts were left wondering whether the daredevil athlete had staged the crash and parachute jump to get more ‘clicks’ and make the video go viral.

The speculation around the incident, which took place in late November, reached a fever pitch when the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into Jacob’s actions, reported the Santa Barbara Independent.

DailyMail.com on Thursday reached out to both agencies. A spokesperson for the FAA responded, saying that the investigation is being led by the NTSB, and any comments must come from NTSB.  

The incident began unfolding on November 24, when Jacob took off in his recently purchased Taylocraft BL64 single-engine plane from Lompoc City Airport in Santa Barbara, California. 

Used Taylorcraft planes – such as Jacobs, which dates back to the 1940s – can range in price from about $5,000 to $20,000, depending on their condition. It unknown how much Jacob paid for his aircraft, although it appeared to be in poor shape, with duct tape on its dashboard and brown water marks on its exterior metal. 

It is also unclear at this time if the plane was insured, and if Jacob has made any insurance claim since the crash.

November 24 marked the 50th anniversary of the unsolved DB Cooper hijacking, where a mystery man parachuted out of a Boeing 727 over Washington state with $200,000 in ransom. 

About 20 minutes into the flight, the TaylorcraftBL64 appears to lose power and the engine stalls over a mountainous, rugged terrain 

Jacob appears to struggling with the door as he attempts to exit the plane mid-flight 

With a parachute strapped to his back, the adventurer leaps head first out of the plane, leaving it hanging in the air 

Video shows Jacob landing in a thicket and complaining of cuts and scrapes 

This image, shot by one of the many cameras mounted on the plane, captures the aircraft moments before is smashes nose-first into a hill

The aircraft, circled in red, is seen resting in hills of the Los Padres National Forest

Jacob trekked to the wreckage and took a picture of the crumpled plane, which he posted on his Instagram page a month later to promote the video of the crash 

Jacob says in the video that his plan was to travel to Mammoth Lakes to spread the ashes of his late friend, adventurer Johnny Strange, who died in a BASE jumping accident in 2015. 

In the first few minutes of a video, everything seems to be going well, with Jacob smiling into one of the many cameras aboard his plane and giving a thumbs up. 

But about 20 minutes into the flight, the Taylorcraft plane’s sole engine appears to lose power and stall, and its propeller stops rotating. 

Jacob lets out a string of expletives as he struggles to open the door. Eventually, he manages to scramble out of the plane and open his parachute. 

Jacob’s ditched aircraft hangs in the air before smashing nose-first into the hills of the Los Padres National Forest. The crash is captured from multiple angles by all the various cameras mounted on the aircraft. 

In September, Jacob posted a selfie of himself in the same parachute harness as the one seen in the video, sitting at the controls of a plane 

The crash coincided with the 50th anniversary of the DB Cooper hijacking, when a mystery man parachuted out of a plane with a $200,000 ransom. The image above shows FBI composite sketches of the perpetrator, who was never identified  

Meanwhile, the former snowboarder successfully lands in some brush, appearing frustrated and complaining of scrapes in cuts, but is thankful for his lucky escape. 

‘This is why I always fly with a parachute,’ he exclaims.  

Jacob explains in the video that his plane experienced ‘engine failure’ and he made the decision to exit mid-flight and let it crash because there was ‘no safe place to land.’   

The rest of the video shows Jacob hiking to the site of the crash to view the wreckage, then wandering in the wilderness in gathering darkness until he runs into a farmer and asks for help. 

Trevor Jacob competes in the Men’s Snowboard Cross 1/8 Finals on day eleven of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on February 18, 2014 in Sochi, Russia

In 2018, Jacob performed a stunt in which he skated off a roof and into a friend’s swimming pool. The video of the stunt went viral online 

The Santa Barbara Independent reported that unnamed sources at Lompoc City Airport have raised red flags about Jacob’s airplane, saying that it appeared to be in a state of disrepair and required maintenance before the November 24 flight. 

A few days after the crash, the sources said that Jacob returned to the airport and relayed to them the tale of his ill-fated plane. After he was informed that the incident would have to be reported to the FAA, Jacob allegedly chartered a helicopter and removed the wreckage of his Taylorcraft. 

Jacob, a native of California, has gained Internet fame by performing acts of derring-do, including jumping his snowboard over a moving train in 2011. 

In 2018, Jacob made a splash online when he skated off a friend’s roof on a skateboard and landed in a pool.  

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