Taylorcraft down California

Been impressed with the extent some of the YouTube sleuths are going to for the sport of it. Most aren't pilots but they are pulling together some great nuggets.
So, one guy that's an avid hiker named Buck Crockett found the helo on ADSBexchange several weeks ago, has filed a FOIA request with the US Forest Service Los Padres National Forest for all information relating to the required Special Use Permit (required to be) filed by the owners of the helicopter to land inside the forest boundary and recover the aircraft.
Another guy, TritonTV who seems to be just a computer geek and is difficult to listen to, has put together a convincing timeline using Google Earth vs the video that shows Trevor Jacob was not going to Mammoth Lakes, his exact crash site, his landing site, that he flew directly without delay to the spot he bailed out, and shows his plane crashed within 2.1 miles of two ranch homes that it could have easily drifted into.
Other guys, Davin, Barron Flying Club, and Scooby1961 have all added evidence including the reasons why Trevor Jacob edited the originally released video and rereleased it on Jan 10, along with the evidence that he had a fire extinguisher taped to his leg and water with him when he bailed out, and calculating how far he could have glided easily making Santa Inez airport. Another notes that the engine on the aircraft had been had been changed since purchased from a Lycoming O-145B to a probable Continental O170 A65 as seen the video and is not on the aircraft registration.
But no one has tied all of the bits from each of these guys and others together in a cohesive package yet.
 
I am going to speculate that he intentionally detached the right wing fuel hose.
I notice he was flying with a jug of water.

I am going to speculate that after the engine quit, he used the hose to pour the jug of water into the tank with that hose to reduce the chance of a fire.
This is the last frame. That looks like liquid.

Screenshot_6.jpg
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I am going to speculate that he intentionally detached the right wing fuel hose.
I notice he was flying with a jug of water.

I am going to speculate that after the engine quit, he used the hose to pour the jug of water into the tank with that hose to reduce the chance of a fire.
This is the last frame. That looks like liquid.

View attachment 104075
Click to expand...

I gotta admit, that sounds pretty crazy, although it seems to be the latest buzz going around. especially far out if 'that pic' is the justification.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I am going to speculate that he intentionally detached the right wing fuel hose.
I notice he was flying with a jug of water.

I am going to speculate that after the engine quit, he used the hose to pour the jug of water into the tank with that hose to reduce the chance of a fire.
This is the last frame. That looks like liquid.

View attachment 104075
Click to expand...


To pour water into a wing tank on a high-wing plane, wouldn’t he have needed to be inverted?
 
Half Fast said:
To pour water into a wing tank on a high-wing plane, wouldn’t he have needed to be inverted?
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The primary tank is in front of the pilot above his knees. The wing tank gravity feeds to the nose tank via that valve.
 
That water in the tank thing may sound crazy, but if someone were to do a risk analysis on a stunt similar to that, one risk might have been starting a wildfire. California might not have a reckless endangerment law, but I bet they take an exceptionally dim view of starting wildfires.
 
Half Fast said:
Ah, makes sense.
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Yeah. I've owned two. When it's time to transfer fuel from the wing tank to the nose tank, you know when the nose tank is full when there's a splash of fuel coming out the top of the cap where there's a hole for the stick on a float.
 
Albany Tom said:
That water in the tank thing may sound crazy, but if someone were to do a risk analysis on a stunt similar to that, one risk might have been starting a wildfire. California might not have a reckless endangerment law, but I bet they take an exceptionally dim view of starting wildfires.
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I don't think he did any risk analysis, he doesn't seem too bright.

I didn't see a hole where the fuel line normally comes out of the wing root, so the wing tank may have been removed at some point and the valve left in place for a future reinstallation. The wing tank was optional, not all T-Crafts had them. I can't see pouring any significant amount of water into that little hose, but maybe one could get enough in there to say, "look, water in the fuel, that's why it quit!" But even that seems a stretch.

WIth all the flaws in his story, I suspect he just didn't think things out very well.
 
Another thing that I don't know if anyone mentioned is you can see the pitot line disconnected in the cockpit.

Doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the crash, but at least chalk it up to another bit of odd'ness to this story.
 
TxJim said:
Been impressed with the extent some of the YouTube sleuths are going to for the sport of it. Most aren't pilots but they are pulling together some great nuggets.
So, one guy that's an avid hiker named Buck Crockett found the helo on ADSBexchange several weeks ago, has filed a FOIA request with the US Forest Service Los Padres National Forest for all information relating to the required Special Use Permit (required to be) filed by the owners of the helicopter to land inside the forest boundary and recover the aircraft.
Another guy, TritonTV who seems to be just a computer geek and is difficult to listen to, has put together a convincing timeline using Google Earth vs the video that shows Trevor Jacob was not going to Mammoth Lakes, his exact crash site, his landing site, that he flew directly without delay to the spot he bailed out, and shows his plane crashed within 2.1 miles of two ranch homes that it could have easily drifted into.
Other guys, Davin, Barron Flying Club, and Scooby1961 have all added evidence including the reasons why Trevor Jacob edited the originally released video and rereleased it on Jan 10, along with the evidence that he had a fire extinguisher taped to his leg and water with him when he bailed out, and calculating how far he could have glided easily making Santa Inez airport. Another notes that the engine on the aircraft had been had been changed since purchased from a Lycoming O-145B to a probable Continental O170 A65 as seen the video and is not on the aircraft registration.
But no one has tied all of the bits from each of these guys and others together in a cohesive package yet.
Click to expand...

I think the ultimate lesson here is to avoid enraging the "internet". They will pull all stops to come after you. There's a really good documentary on Netflix called, "Dont F#@% with Cats". About someone who posted a video abusing some kittens and people all over the world rallied to investigate who did it.
 
Late to the show but finally got around to posting my first and only YouTube video about Trevor Jacob. It's titled "What happens after the pilot decides to leave the chat room" and it's only 2 minutes long. Common knowledge for pilots I made it in hope of possibly enlightening all of the non-pilots who post comments and theories without really knowing what they're talking about. Spreading knowledge is good right?

 
Been watching this thread off and on since the whole saga began. Also followed it elsewhere on social media (Reddit, etc), and enjoyed the brief coverage it got in the mainstream news.

Went down the rabbit hole reading about Trevor Jacob on the web. There is a lot of content out there written about Trevor due to his career in Snowboard Cross (2014 Olympics, 2014/2015/2016 X-games participant, etc.).

There is also a lot of stuff that Trevor generated himself, most of it cataloged on his YouTube page. Jumping a moving train in the mountains on a snowboard back in 2011. Videos chronicling his time living as a hobo, traveling via hopping freight-trains and hitchkiking. Along with Adventured.com, which Travis put together as a "place guides, instructors, and coaches, can network and offer services to their clients." Kind of an AirBnB.com for outdoor adventures, or something to that effect.

His X-games bio from 2015 is copied below, and is...interesting.
Jacob, 22, is a legend in the making. He somehow made the 2014 Sochi Olympics and finished 9th even though he rarely races -- competing is practically an afterthought in Trevor's life. Instead, he jumps moving trains, travels with Travis Pastrana's Nitro Circus and has trained MMA since age 13. With an all-out attitude, a creative streak and a great sense of humor, he has backflipped a ridiculous number of vehicles, from dirtbikes to Razor scooters. Jacob finished 12th in Snowboarder X at XG Aspen 2015, drawing attention with a giant 360 he threw in traffic during the consolation final.
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The dude is 28 years old. He's clearly ambitious, and has accomplished a lot in life. He seemingly has an incredible amount of raw athletic talent.

It also looks like he's shared a couple of videos talking about depression and anxiety. My heart goes out to him and others struggling with those kinds of challenges. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

But warning, old man throwing shade ahead:

Trevor Jacob sounds a bit like Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down. A huge amount of raw talent, mixed with an equally large amount of ego. He got a lot of good news coverage around the time of the 2014 Olympics, much of it praising him as some kind of extreme sports wunderkind. However, as the press talked him up, it sounds like Trevor committed the ultimate sin of stardom: He started believing his own legend.

Comments in his bio about "making the Olympics even though he rarely races" comes across as incredibly arrogant. It seems like he had great athletic success in his early 20s, but unable to translate that into anything long-term. And as he stared down his 30's like so many of us do, he started to wonder if his best years were behind him.

To top it off, while he's got a lot of athletic talent, I get the sense that there was a lot of Mommy and Daddy money bankrolling him along the way. Wikipedia shows him growing up in Mammoth Lakes CA, and currently living in West Hills CA, both of which aren't cheap zip codes to live in.

As the saying goes, desperate men do desperate things. Sounds like Trevor was lacking a lot of direction, and it's not surprising he ended up doing something reckless, foolish, and absurd like purposefully crashing a plane. I feel like I've seen similar events play out in my own social circle, on a much smaller scale (marital affairs born of a midlife crisis, etc).

In a perfect world, I'd hope Trevor would have his "come to Jesus" moment, as we used to call it in the military. I'd hope he'd gain some humility and humbleness. Come clean on everything about the crash, as all of social media has already skewered him. And sit down and come up with some sort of direction in life. Hell, put some of your incredible ambition into addressing depression and mental health in Olympic athletes. It's been a neglected topic for such a long time, and seems like it's only getting traction now via folks like Michael Phelps and Simone Biles. Be a force for good in the world.

Whatever it is, find some sense of purpose that doesn't revolve around the number of YouTube clicks.
 
fasteddie said:
...Come clean on everything about the crash...
Click to expand...

At this point that would appear to be his only real option. He's not going to prison or anything but he will lose his certificate and that's probably best for him and all the rest of us.
 
Silvaire said:
At this point that would appear to be his only real option.
Click to expand...

Then he gets to write a book, go on the talk show circuit, and perhaps a low budget movie. Perhaps he will open a consulting business for how to make money the old fashioned way ...

Any suggestions for his book title? Names for individual chapters? Any photos that he should use? Perhaps this should be its own thread ... :D
 
Yo don’t have to look far to find examples of ghost written books. If there is a dollar sign on it I’m sure Mr Ridgewallet will (ahem) “jump” at the chance.
 
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Silvaire said:
Um yea...I don't se this guy writing a book, or even reading one.
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Perhaps after the slap on the wrist is over he'll do a series of "how I done it" U-toobe vids ...
 
Latest news on this "A YouTuber Purposely Crashed His Plane in California, F.A.A. Says" https://nyti.ms/3OulD91

EDIT: As I forgot about the paywall. To save you the click or if you don't have the subscription, some extracts from the article:

"The Agency sat it would immediately revoke Mr. Jacob's private pilot certificate"

As per the NYT, the FAA sent him a letter and here's some extract of it:

The F.A.A. agreed about the parachute in its letter, which it released in response to a request from The New York Times, and pointed out other revealing details that officials had uncovered during an investigation.

“During this flight, you opened the left side pilot door before you claimed the engine had failed,” the F.A.A. wrote.

Before jumping out of the plane, the agency said, Mr. Jacob made no attempt to contact air traffic control on the emergency frequency, did not try to restart the engine by increasing airflow over the propeller and failed to look for a place to safely land, “even though there were multiple areas within gliding range in which you could have made a safe landing.”
“You demonstrated a lack of care, judgment and responsibility by choosing to jump out of an aircraft solely so you could record the footage of the crash,” the agency said. “Your egregious and intentional actions on these dates indicate that you presently lack the degree of care, judgment and responsibility required of a certificate holder.”
 
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Hector Parra said:
Sorry, forgot about that. Just edited the OP. The only news that we haven't heard about is the confirmation that FAA will revoke his PPC/PPL
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Go look it up for yourself, he has no certificates anymore. Good riddance. Hope he has broken other laws in doing this that he can actually see some serious punishment for this utterly idiotic stunt.
 
I'm good with a revoked cert. Sounds like low risk of him hurting anyone, and he had the aircraft pulled out so as not to cause environmental damage. At some point he's going to wonder if he made the right trade in a bunch of youtube clicks and 5 min of fame, vs being able to fly.
 
Albany Tom said:
I'm good with a revoked cert. Sounds like low risk of him hurting anyone,
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I'm not at all convinced that taking his certificate will keep him from flying again. This one in particular doesn't seem to be wrapped too tightly.
 
Daleandee said:
I'm not at all convinced that taking his certificate will keep him from flying again. This one in particular doesn't seem to be wrapped too tightly.
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this honestly brings up an interesting question. say he goes and flies again solo. what happens?
 
Daleandee said:
I'm not at all convinced that taking his certificate will keep him from flying again. This one in particular doesn't seem to be wrapped too tightly.
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I agree theres nothing to keep him grounded. There's no ramp police checking everyone's certificate. But I've read where guys without a certificate get jail time for continuing to fly without a certificate. Now, Martha Lunken just had to start over. I wonder if part of starting over meant a new medical. Or if a medical can be revoked at any time. This dolt put a few videos up talking about him being depressed, contemplating life after his girlfriend left him. Was that also for views or legitimate? Who cares. Take his medical and make it impossible to use his privilege of flight legally. Actually, privileged would be a good word for him
 
Racerx said:
I agree theres nothing to keep him grounded. There's no ramp police checking everyone's certificate. But I've read where guys without a certificate get jail time for continuing to fly without a certificate. Now, Martha Lunken just had to start over. I wonder if part of starting over meant a new medical. Or if a medical can be revoked at any time. This dolt put a few videos up talking about him being depressed, contemplating life after his girlfriend left him. Was that also for views or legitimate? Who cares. Take his medical and make it impossible to use his privilege of flight legally. Actually, privileged would be a good word for him
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This particular statement is what makes me think that he won't get it back that easily: "Your egregious and intentional actions on these dates indicate that you presently lack the degree of care, judgment and responsibility required of a certificate holder."
Not sure if he can apply to a sport pilot though
 
The quote below makes me think he probably will try to fly again. He just seems to be too cocky. Pretty sure the FAA would tell him about it before a press release...

Reached by email on Wednesday, Mr. Jacob appeared unaware of the F.A.A.’s ruling and replied, “Where’d you get that information?”
 
bfmetcalf said:
Pretty sure the FAA would tell him about it before a press release...
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Has anyone actually seen a press release? I don't doubt the outcome (much) but I've seen nothing official so far.

Nauga,
and suspicious minds
 
Racerx said:
And their source was the Wall Street Journal. Not an FAA press release. Was unable to find the WSJ article that was referenced. Regardless, that would be reporting. Not a press release.
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Do privacy laws allow them to announce the results of administrative punishment, especially in cases that didn't involve commercial operations?

Case I'm familiar with (as are many of you), a man got his medical pulled for psychiatric reasons, but the only way it got publicized was when he appealed to the court system.

Ron Wanttaja
 
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