FAA Accuses YouTuber of Intentionally Crashing His Plane to Create Viral Video

pcmag.com:

Pro tip: If you're looking for a viral video idea, intentionally crashing an airplane is not it.

In December, former Olympic snowboard Trevor Jacob posted a video titled "I Crashed My Airplane." In it, he claims he was planning to spread the ashes of his friend and fellow extreme sport aficionado Johnny Strange over a Sierra Nevada mountain.

But partway into his flight, the plane's engine goes out. Jacob abandons it over the Los Padres National Forest in California, where it crashes, and he parachutes to safety, all while recording and documenting the experience via footage that would later end up in his YouTube video.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was not impressed. As The New York Times first reported, the agency sent a letter to Jacob earlier this month, which says his flight was "careless or reckless so as to endanger the life or property of another."

The FAA's acting administrator "finds that you lack the qualifications necessary to hold your private pilot certificate and any other airman certificates issued to you," according to the letter, a copy of which the FAA shared with PCMag. The agency revoked that certificate, issued to Jacob in 2018, and ordered him to surrender it immediately or face fines up to $1,644 per day. He has the option to appeal the decision, though.

Jacob’s footage includes the takeoff, engine failure, his jumping from the plane and freefall, his parachute descent and landing in a thicket, an hours-long hike through the wilderness, visiting the crash site of his plane on the way, and eventually coming across a car at night that gets him back to safety. As his plane was kitted with several cameras, Jacob was also able to capture the entire descent of his plane, up to the point of it