A YouTuber has admitted that he jumped out of a plane on purpose so he could use the footage to get views - but now faces jail time for the stunt.
Getting views on YouTube can be a tricky task, as the website is full of every single video idea that you can possibly imagine.
So when it comes to building a YouTube channel, some people think outside the box - though one man didn't really think his idea through.
Trevor Jacob, a 29-year-old pilot, and skydiver, took to the skies with what he believed to be a genius way to get views on the video platform.
As reported by the New York Post, Jacob was flying over the Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County in November 2021.
In the video, which has since gained over three million views, the pilot was seen flying over the mountains while holding the ashes of his friend who passed away in 2015.
To the untrained eye, things took a turn for the worse when Jacob commented that he had lost an engine and he proceeded to climb out of the plane with his parachute.
The pilot then documented his descent to the ground, while cameras attached to the plane provided footage of it crashing into the mountains.
Jacob then spent the rest of the video climbing back up to the wreckage of his aircraft, where he retrieved the cameras in order to gain the footage.
The footage remained on YouTube for over a year before Jacob's story slowly started to unwind, with the National Transportation Safety Board noting that it took the 29-year-old two days to report the crash.
Prosecutors claim that Jacob returned to the wreckage to "destroy" elements that would unravel his story, before allegedly lying to authorities about the whereabouts of the aircraft.
The Department of Justice has said that Jacob has now agreed to a plea deal to one felony count of "destruction and concealment," which could see a maximum of 20 years in prison.
As part of the plea deal, the pilot admitted that he discarded parts of the aircraft at Lompoc City Airport, amongst other places.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California caught Jacob in another lie after it became evident that he was wearing a skydiving outfit in the plane, not traditionally what a pilot would wear.
They concluded that the pilot had no intention of reaching his destination and that he "instead planned to eject from his aircraft during the flight and video himself parachuting to the ground and his airplane as it descended and crashed."
Jacob soon admitted that he had falsely told investigators that the plane lost power, which made it clear that his intentions to jump from the aircraft were premeditated.
The 29-year-old is said to be making his court appearance in the "coming weeks".
