These days and with the power of the internet, it doesn’t take much for an individual to establish a presence on social media, be it through popular apps like TikTok or YouTube. For a US-based YouTuber named Trevor Jacob, a stunt that he pulled has reportedly cost him his pilot license.
The reason behind the US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) decision to rescind Jacob’s pilot license goes back to December last year, when the YouTuber posted a video on his channel of him flying a prop plane above a national park in the state of California, and then proceeding to crash the plane, but not before bailing out with a parachute after its engine stalled.
To the untrained eye, this whole scenario may seem like careful preparation on Roger’s part. However, a breakdown by the FAA officials led them to believe that Roger’s action was more stunt than circumstance. For a start, Roger made no attempt to contact air traffic control on any of the emergency channels. Second, Rogers was already wearing a parachute, which seems to indicate that he had every intention, at the time, of crashing the plane before he even took off. And that is to say nothing of his nonchalant attitude of filming his entire escapade, including the second the plane faceplanted the ground.
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The FAA says that it informed Rogers of its decision via snail mail on 11 April and asked that he also surrender his pilot license. At the time of writing, it is unknown if Jacobs complied with the order but if he doesn’t, it’s a fine of up to US$1644 (~RM7107) per day until he turns it in.
All in all, it is more believable that Rogers crashed his plane on purpose to garner attention and views on his YouTube channel and his past videos seems to cement the point. And while it is one of the more interestingly stupid things a human being can do, it comes nowhere near to the idiocy that is the Tide Pod challenge that was the craze several years ago.
