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YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash
- duskwuff 3y agoMight as well link to the DOJ press release; the Twitter post doesn't add any useful information: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/santa-barbara-county-man-sentenced-6-months-prison-obstructing-federal-probe-plane https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/santa-barbara-county-ma...
- DistractionRect 3y agoIt really doesn't, and in fact proceeds to screenshot said press release. For those that can't login to view the thread: https://nitter.net/bnonews/status/1731748816250974335 https://nitter.net/bnonews/status/1731748816250974335
- dang 3y agoOk, we've changed to that from https://twitter.com/bnonews/status/1731748816250974335 https://twitter.com/bnonews/status/1731748816250974335. Thanks!
- JumpCrisscross 3y agoCritically, he is not going to jail for intentionally crashing the plane. He is being jailed "for obstructing a federal investigation by deliberately destroying the wreckage of an airplane." Had he cooperated, it's plausible to see him getting away with a license revocation and fine. Instead he did this: "In the weeks following the plane crash, Jacob lied to investigators that he did not know the wreckage’s location. In fact, on December 10, 2021, Jacob and a friend flew by helicopter to the wreckage site. There, Jacob used straps to secure the wreckage, which the helicopter lifted and carried to Rancho Sisquoc in Santa Barbara County, where it was loaded onto a trailer attached to Jacob’s pickup truck. Jacob drove the wreckage to Lompoc City Airport and unloaded it in a hangar. He then cut up and destroyed the airplane wreckage and, over the course of a few days, deposited the detached parts of the wrecked airplane into trash bins at the airport and elsewhere, which was done with the intent to obstruct federal authorities from investigating the November 24 plane crash."
- duskwuff 3y agoNote, however, that this doesn't mean that he would have gotten away with it if he'd cooperated. It means that the federal prosecutor decided that the act of obstruction would be easier to prove, since the intentional nature of those acts is much more self-evident.
- bhhaskin 3y agoIs there a law that says you can't intentionally crash a plane? Honest question. There isn't a law that prevents you from intentionally crashing other vehicles. Just around property damage and endangering other people.
- COGlory 3y agoIs there a scenario where intentionally crashing a vehicle on property that you do not have permission to crash a vehicle on isn't reckless endangerment/reckless driving? Except maybe steering away from the oncoming bus into the jersey barrier or something?
- tomatotomato37 3y agoI know there was at least one remote-controlled airliner intentionally crashed in the desert filled with crash dummies and stuff, though that was in an active partnership with the FAA
- Sebb767 3y ago> Is there a scenario where intentionally crashing a vehicle on property that you do not have permission to crash a vehicle on isn't reckless endangerment/reckless driving? Arguably whenever you could expect that not crashing the vehicle would lead to a worse outcome. In the plane example, this might be true if you expect to loose control of the plane at some point (due to mechanical failure or force) and a controlled crash is the best option to avoid (possibly) impacting a more populated area. But I agree that this is a rare scenario.
- I_Am_Nous 3y agoSentenced not for crashing the plane, but destroying the evidence and impeding a federal investigation. Hope they pull his pilots license if they haven't already.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoAirmen cert doesn't show up in https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/Main.aspx https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/Main.aspx https://www.aviationweekly.org/news/pw8d8knj7uroieoxodawivkl0l9l46 https://www.aviationweekly.org/news/pw8d8knj7uroieoxodawivkl... > In a letter sent to Trevor Jacob by the FAA on April 11th, the FAA said he had violated federal aviation regulations and operated his single-engine aircraft in a “careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.” The agency said it would immediately revoke Trevor Jacob’s private pilot certificate, suspending his license to operate any aircraft. It would appear the agency has followed through.
- 4ggr0 3y agoThe title of his latest video is "I Got My Pilots License Back! But Going To Prison..."[0] No idea how the websites you cited work, maybe there's a delay. Seems like he's flying around again. (Haven't watched the video and won't, but maybe he explains it further) [0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55JdKOFIecc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55JdKOFIecc
- loeg 3y agoYeah, but if he hadn't covered it up it seems pretty clear he would have been charged for deliberately crashing instead.
- fxtentacle 3y agoFor me, the really interesting question is not if he's guilty - I had assumed as much - but if he will come out financially successful. That video had millions of views and a sponsorship deal. Call me a cynic, but it seems that some companies will deliberately break the law and pay the price if it's worth it, so why not independent hustlers.
- WillPostForFood 3y agoLegal fees alone are going to be many times YouTube revenue. Add lost wages for a half year in prison. Add future lost revenue from sponsors who don't want to be associated with this, and it has to be a huge financial disaster.
- ryandrake 3y agoEven if the legal fees weren't many times the revenue, I never understood why couldn't the justice system default to fines like "All income arising out of crime + $XYZ" for all crimes, so that the fine is never a cost of doing business?
- altairprime 3y agoWhat percentage of viewer income was due to the crime?
- constantly 3y agoI presume this is hypothetical. A reasonable start would be to see the difference average views on a video and views on this particular video times as revenue per view. Admittedly I’ve never heard of this guy and avoid most YouTube “creators” and it got a view out of me out of morbid curiosity and so I could speculate on whether it was pre planned.
- altairprime 3y agoThat question, as posed, represents why this isn’t often done. It’s very difficult to determine the contributing revenue fraction when one illegal action is laundered among many. Seizure tends to be all or nothing as a result.
- resolutebat 3y agoPlenty of previous discussion on HN, but IMHO the most interesting one was the early dissection of whether or not the crash was intentional: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29729307 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29729307
- dang 3y agoThanks! Macroexpanded: FAA investigating controversial crash video - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29729307 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29729307 - Dec 2021 (414 comments) If people find the other threads we can add them to the list here.
- bmitc 3y agoI don't recall any discussions being particularly interesting because even a cursory, single watch of the video made it immediately apparent that he crashed it on purpose.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoInteresting is obviously subjective to the observer, but subjects can be interesting and informative in their detail and not just their conclusion.
- bmitc 3y agoThat's generally true, but I am reticent to call anything this guy did interesting.
- maxbond 3y agoHe did a lot of strange stuff (which you probably didn't notice on your first viewing) which people picked apart in interesting visual analysis. For instance, he jumped out of the plane with a mini fire extinguisher strapped to his leg, hidden under his pants. Why? We don't know, but there are several hypothesis. If you feel the urge to ask me what those hypothesis are - then I think you'll see the point.
- cqqxo4zV46cp 3y ago[flagged]
- mattmaroon 3y agoHe deserves a much longer sentence for this. There is so much risk of killing someone or damaging property. Even in a remote area you cannot be sure there is nothing below or that you won’t start a forest fire. I’ve seen less bad crimes get years.
- shpx 3y agoMillions of lives became a smidge more interesting because they got to see, think, talk and be outraged by this guy crashing a plane into a remote mountain range on purpose. As a society we can afford things like this if they're a one-off. It's slightly more fun if this happens once in 10 years than if it happens zero times. If 6 months is all he gets then that seems right to me, maybe even a bit much.
- Waterluvian 3y agoI’m not sure I agree that this is in some way culturally worth it. But I have to concede, this is basically how Damn Interesting episodes get made.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- autoexec 3y agoThere are things that shouldn't have been crimes at all ruin people's lives. I'm not saying this guy deserves to lose everything, but I agree that less than one year isn't justice considering all the harm he did and could have caused.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- foobar1962 3y agoThe prison sentence was for obstruction of justice the matter of crashing the plane hasn't been addressed yet.
- Blahah 3y agoIt's unclear to me why he's destroyed this evidence or how the vague explanation suggested in the article (for YouTube views) makes any sense. Anyone understand it?
- ShamelessC 3y agoSeems pretty clear to me. There was evidence of a crime he was being investigated for.
- gyrate 3y ago[dead]
- canjobear 3y agoAnyone have a link to the video?
- lakpan 3y agoI think it was deleted but you can find a reupload https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2htaX92rRI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2htaX92rRI
- das_keyboard 3y ago> who had secured a sponsorship from a company that sold various products, including a wallet. Pursuant to the sponsorship deal, Jacob agreed to promote the company’s wallet in a YouTube video that he would post. All that for Ridge Wallet!??
- happytiger 3y agoLet’s just hope the consequence is enough to keep people from ever doing something as dumb as this ever again. I followed this whole story closely and his behavior was just outrageous every step dog the way culminating in actually lying to investigators and destroying evidence of a crime. It went far beyond conduct that is unbecoming of a licensed pilot.
- atleastoptimal 3y agoCan't understand his risk/reward calculation on crashing the plane. Was the bump in views (not guaranteed, only probable) greater than the cost of the plane and potential personal hazard from crashing a plane then broadcasting it to the world?
- xkekjrktllss 3y agoHe comes from a very wealthy family. He just wanted fame, no matter the financial cost.
- reducesuffering 3y agoThis maniac is still flying a plane earlier today? https://instagram.com/trevorjacob?igshid=MzMyNGUyNmU2YQ== https://instagram.com/trevorjacob?igshid=MzMyNGUyNmU2YQ== How is that possible?
- MisterBastahrd 3y agoRight. Many authorities don't care until you bring them paperwork headaches. Then you've made your problem theirs, and they will respond in kind.
- gapchuboy 3y agoYouTube is full of shit videos with similar titles. Mainly inspired by MrBeast. Kids are willing to daredevil acts just to get video views inspired by that idiot dumb face. I spent 7 days buried alive I survived 7 months in Antarctica. I got haunted by military. ..
- TomK32 3y agoI spent 41 years on the same planet in this awesome VR game, and it isn't even No Man's Sky.
- paxys 3y agoFeds took the easy way out by sentencing him for obstruction rather than the act itself. That would have been quite a precedent to set.
- RagnarD 3y agoHe deserves it simply for being so incredibly stupid. Was he sure the area of the crash was clear of anyone walking around? That it wouldn't go up in flames and start a massive forest fire? It was dumb luck that those didn't happen.
- fred_is_fred 3y agoPeople doing stuff like this happens all the time on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. I think one solution could be that once you are convicted of a crime done in the service of social media that you also receive a ban from making any income from social media for a period of time. I think it may be the only way to get through to some of these people who do stuff like this.
- zlg_codes 3y ago[flagged]
- blackoil 3y ago> Can't we go after murderers and actual troublemakers? What about the murderer who don't do it messy or clean up after themselves?
- jonwachob91 3y agoAnd... He's already got his pilot license back. [0] [0] https://youtu.be/55JdKOFIecc https://youtu.be/55JdKOFIecc
- depsypher 3y agoAt least he doesn't have far to go to report to prison considering that Lompoc has a federal penitentiary. Medium security though, not sure he'd qualify? Kevin Mitnick spent time there as a point of comparison.
- newbalance 3y ago[flagged]
- ramraj07 3y agoThis is like Walter in the Big Lebowski bringing up Nam.
- rdtsc 3y ago> six months in federal prison ... > “I Crashed My Airplane,” that contained a promotion of the wallet and depicted him parachuting from the plane Goes to federal prison after promoting a wallet. Six months for lying is not enough. There should be another suit files for and cleanup he should have to fix any damage done by this wreck, and then also repay back the cost of the investigation.
- cat_plus_plus 3y agoGive such folks an option of a stint in the army or risky civil service like firefighting or wilderness rescue. They obviously have some skill and courage, teach them to channel it in socially constructive ways while compensating society for dealing with their stupidity.
- hluska 3y agoI know a few people who are currently active in search and rescue organizations. None of them deserve to be forced to work with anyone like this fool - they’re professionals who control risk as much as humanly possible. This is an individual who put himself and others at incredible risk for views.
- splatzone 3y agoI think what GP was suggesting was that this person might have a chance to redeem themselves if they were surrounded by, and came to respect, people like you're describing. Do you think that's ever possible?
- ehnto 3y agoIt's more likely in that environment than in prison, but I also kind of agree with GP, why do the people doing the right thing get saddled with remmediation duty on top of doing something they may even be volunteering to do? Asking a bit too much of good natured people I feel.
- throwitaway222 3y ago> Jacob drove the wreckage to Lompoc City Airport and unloaded it in a hangar. He then cut up and destroyed the airplane wreckage and, over the course of a few days, deposited the detached parts of the wrecked airplane into trash bins at the airport and elsewhere, which was done with the intent to obstruct federal authorities from investigating the November 24 plane crash. I mean, I would pay to watch this movie.
- brandensilva 3y agoHe or someone wrote this 6 hours ago on his Instagram: "Two years ago I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane and let it crash into the ground, took some bad advice, and decided to remove the wreckage. Today I was sentenced to 6 months in Federal Prison. Thank you to my unconditional loving family and friends. You know who you are, and who you aren't :) My incredible lawyer, and Federal Judge Walter, for understanding the truth of the situation, and giving me a second chance at life. This situation could have been a lot worse, and am extremely grateful am here to talk about it. look forward to teaching our youth from my mistake, and the lessons I have learned from this, it has changed me as a person forever, and therefore, I am so excited for this next chapter of implementing those changes into society for the better. made a video about this on my YouTube channel if you'd like to watch it.Always wear your parachute my friends. Much love" Not really sure what to expect from his post as it gives me vibes of something his mother would write for him if he's locked up and cannot do so himself.
- Valodim 3y ago"Please like and smash that subscribe button" vibes, but it's his livelihood to do that so not sure if it's reasonable to expect anything different. The text doesn't make it hard giving him the benefit of the doubt at least. Hope he'll land in his feet and do better from now on.
- padjo 3y agoGearing up for a tour as an inspirational speaker when he gets out.
- succo 3y agoOnly in USA. hhaahah