YouTuber deliberately crashed his own plane for views, US aviation agency says

Jacob filmed the whole incident and uploaded it to YouTube in a video titled I Crashed My Plane. Since being posted online in December, the video has racked up 2.2m views.

In the video, the empty plane is shown speeding towards the mountains before crashing into the wilderness.

Other pieces of evidence the FAA cited included the sport parachute backpack container that Jacob put on before the flight, his opening the left side pilot door before claiming that the engine had failed, his failure to contact air traffic control on the emergency frequency before jumping out the plane and his lack of attempts to restart the engine by increasing airflow over the propeller.

Additionally, the agency found that Jacob had recovered then disposed of the plane wreckage, as well as recovered the cameras that he had attached to the plane before the flight.

According to the letter, Jacob is not allowed to reapply for his pilot license for a year.