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Youtube

A YouTuber Purposely Crashed His Plane in California, FAA Says (nytimes.com) 171

The Federal Aviation Administration has found that Trevor Jacob, a daredevil YouTuber who posted a video of himself last year parachuting out of a plane that he claimed had malfunctioned, purposely abandoned the aircraft and allowed it to crash into the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. From a report: In a letter to Mr. Jacob on April 11, the F.A.A. said he had violated federal aviation regulations and operated his single-engine plane in a "careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another." The agency said it would immediately revoke Mr. Jacob's private pilot certificate, effectively ending his permission to operate any aircraft. Reached by email on Wednesday, Mr. Jacob appeared unaware of the F.A.A.'s ruling and replied, "Where'd you get that information?"

In a video posted on his YouTube channel last week, Mr. Jacob, a former snowboarding Olympian turned YouTuber with more than 100,000 subscribers, briefly addressed the airplane controversy, saying, "I can't talk about it, per my attorney." "But the truth of that situation will come out with time," he added, "and I'll leave that at that." The F.A.A. does not have the ability to prosecute; it can only revoke and suspend certificates and issue fines. The agency ordered Mr. Jacob to surrender his private pilot certificate and said he could face "further legal enforcement action" if he did not do so, including a civil penalty of up to $1,644 for each day that he did not return it.

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A YouTuber Purposely Crashed His Plane in California, FAA Says

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  • by smoot123 ( 1027084 ) on Thursday April 21, 2022 @01:28PM (#62466084)

    Light planes, even bug smashers, aren't cheap. I'd be surprised if the fame and clicks he garnered from the video are enough to cover his costs.

    • Light planes, even bug smashers, aren't cheap. I'd be surprised if the fame and clicks he garnered from the video are enough to cover his costs.

      In addition to the time and expense of training to get a pilot's license, which has now been revoked.

      • Another news source says he lost his license for a year, so that training isn't wasted.

        • Another news source says he lost his license for a year, so that training isn't wasted.

          False. It was not suspended; it was "revoked."

      • by OzPeter ( 195038 ) on Thursday April 21, 2022 @02:43PM (#62466384)

        A comparison to this is the story of Martha Lunken [flyingmag.com] who flew under the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge in 2020. She has 60+ years of aviation experience, and while she probably performed this action with care, she was caught out doing it.

        The end result was that her license and endorsements were all revoked by the FAA and she was not allowed to to reapply for 12 months. After that time she is entitled to to re-apply for a student license and then has to start from the very beginning and apply for and pass each license and endorsement that she wishes to re-obtain.

        On various websites, I have seen chatter that suggests while technically this is the course she has to take, pragmatically the FAA might not make it possible to achieve these goals (nudge nudge, wink wink).

          In the case of Jacobs, it was obvious from the videos that he himself posted that what he was doing was a self promotional stunt, and I hope the FAA ties him up in enough red tape that he never gets his license back.

    • by Punchcardz ( 598335 ) on Thursday April 21, 2022 @01:39PM (#62466130)
      I think the accident or intentional ruling has substantial ramifications for insurance purposes.
    • What is insurance for, if not to subsidize your youtube shenanigans and Uber side gig?
    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      I'd be surprised if the fame and clicks he garnered from the video are enough to cover his costs.

      The top youtubers like PewDiePie and Logan Paul earn millions a month from YouTube. I've seen videos where Logan Paul rents a house at $20,000/month (why, I don't know).

      Used planes vary widely in prices. A brand new Cessna 172 with all the options can come in at around $250k, but a used one from the 50s can cost as little as $20k.Planes from the 60s and 70s (still airworthy) can go from that to around $50k or so

      • by OzPeter ( 195038 )

        The top youtubers like PewDiePie and Logan Paul earn millions a month from YouTube. I've seen videos where Logan Paul rents a house at $20,000/month (why, I don't know).

        It's probably for accounting reasons. That $20k is probably written off as a business expense. It's sort of like why companies lease everything rather than buy.

    • by King_TJ ( 85913 )

      The problem I see is the YouTube terms and conditions for monetized video content. If you look closely, they reserve the right to refuse to pay you if the video depicts a dangerous or reckless event that could cause harm.

      • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        The problem I see is the YouTube terms and conditions for monetized video content. If you look closely, they reserve the right to refuse to pay you if the video depicts a dangerous or reckless event that could cause harm.

        You think people like Logan Paul, PewDiePie and such are subject to such things? YouTube pays them millions a month (not a lot of millions, we're talking only about $5M/month at the high end, around $1-2M for the average).

        The only reason YouTube can pay that much is because Google is reapin

    • by sjames ( 1099 )

      Given how "carefully" he's thought this out so far, I wouldn't be surprised if he was hoping insurance would cover the plane.

    • by OzPeter ( 195038 )

      Light planes, even bug smashers, aren't cheap. I'd be surprised if the fame and clicks he garnered from the video are enough to cover his costs.

      There is no way in the world that the extra clicks he gained would even pay for the lawyers he needs to cover his ass alone everything else that is coming at him.

      I know some people have done some analysis based on how many views he typically gets for a video, vs what YouTube pays out, and it wasn't pretty. Unfortunately I can't remember where I saw it.

  • As with most jackassery that ends with comeuppance, my immediate reaction is: "ha-ha [youtube.com]"
    • The problem is the comeuppance is rarely just, and often just profitable to make sure more jackassery can insure.

      Before YouTube, we had people doing stupid stunts, getting hurt and causing problems, the laws on the books were enough to make sure they wouldn't do it again. However with the likes of YouTube, you can make a good amount of money more than what you have to pay, so it is just justified as part of the cost of business.

      If you have to drive 100mph to get to a business meeting that will make you a m

    • Flying a plane like you would in a video game. "Welp, I'm done with this plane. *jumps out of it in a parachute and watches plane explode into a hillside*"

  • by Bitbeard ( 1665499 ) on Thursday April 21, 2022 @02:46PM (#62466394)
    I'm angry at myself when I lose a cheap ballpoint pen. Behaving like an airplane is disposable is madness.
  • by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Thursday April 21, 2022 @02:47PM (#62466400)
    ...achieves his goal.
  • by Malays2 bowman ( 6656916 ) on Thursday April 21, 2022 @07:21PM (#62467260)

    Hopefully this will discourage other morons who want to pull stunts like this for the viewz and subscribz.

  • Now its up to Santa Barbara County to decide if they want to prosecute him for reckless endangerment. If the FAA attorneys did not refer this to the Santa Barbara DA, my guess is this is the end of it. Hoping the FAA sent their findings with a bow on it.
  • You could land this on any flat surface, it stalls at 38 mph.

C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'Informatique. -- Bosquet [on seeing the IBM 4341]

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