Trevor Jacob

Trevor Daniel Jacob In May 2023, Jacob pleaded guilty to a charge of obstruction of justice, having disposed of the aircraft wreckage without authorization or supervision while lying to federal investigators about its disposition. He was sentenced to six months in prison.

Athletic career A native of Mammoth Lakes, California, Jacob competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. He made it to the semifinal of the men's snowboard cross, where he failed to qualify for the final. He lost by inches to fellow American Alex Deibold, who went on to earn the bronze medal. Jacob ultimately finished ninth.

Jacob competed in snowboard cross at the Winter X Games in 2014, 2015, and 2016 in Aspen, Colorado, with a best finish of fifth place in the 2016 competition. He also competed in the 2013–14 FIS Snowboard World Cup, winning the Snowboard Cross event held on 11 January 2014.

In addition to snowboarding, Jacob has participated in skateboarding, surfing, BMX riding, motocross and mixed martial arts, and was part of Travis Pastrana's Nitro Circus collective. Jacob walked to the crash site before hiking out and saying that the engine had failed.

A month later, Jacob released an edited, 13-minute video (under the title "I Crashed My Plane") depicting many of these events on his YouTube channel. The video was viewed 1.7 million times before it was removed from YouTube. Jacob told FAA and NTSB investigators that he could not explain why the wreck seemingly vanished.

Guilty plea and sentence On May 11, 2023, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced that Jacob pleaded guilty to a felony charge of "destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation", a violation of section 1519 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

Jacob also admitted that he and an unnamed friend used a helicopter to airlift the wreck to the Rancho Sisquoc area on December 10, 2021, where Jacob later loaded it onto a truck trailer, moved it to a hangar at Lompoc Airport, cut it up, and disposed of the pieces in various locations over several days, all without authorization and while telling investigators he did not know the whereabouts of the wreckage.

Jacob entered a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, announced in May 2023. with a scheduled start date of January 29, 2024.

New pilot certificate Less than a week after his December 2023 sentencing, an FAA spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Los Angeles that the agency had granted Jacob a new pilot certificate. FAA regulations allow a pilot whose certificate is revoked to be granted a new certificate, provided that a year has elapsed since the revocation, the applicant had not committed a drug or alcohol offense, and the applicant undergoes the same training and testing regimen as a new applicant; these conditions had been satisfied, the FAA said.