FAA Says Former Olympian Trevor Jacob Staged Plane Crash for YouTube Video: 'Careless and Reckless'

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The FAA withdrew the pilot certificate of YouTuber Trevor Jacob this month after they claim he intentionally caused his single-engine airplane to crash, an incident he later documented in a video for his channel called "I Crashed My Plane."

In the video published Dec. 24, 2021, on his YouTube channel, Jacob's 1940 Taylorcraft plane appeared to have an engine malfunction while flying over California's Los Padres National Forest in November. Jacob, who set up multiple cameras for the flight, jumped out of the plane using a parachute as the aircraft crashed a short time later.

Shortly after the video was posted, other YouTubers — such as Mentour Now!, Trent Palmer, and MojoGrip — began questioning Jacob's decision-making and whether he passed up many opportunities to land the aircraft instead of letting it crash.

In a letter sent to Jacob by the FAA on April 11, the organization determined Jacob staged the engine malfunction for the video and decided to revoke his pilot certificate.

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"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 in its letter, which was obtained by PEOPLE.

"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," they said.

Representation for Jacob — who competed in snowboarding at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia — did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

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The FAA pointed out that Jacob did not appear to contact air traffic control, did not try to restart the engine, nor look for a place to land, though "there were multiple areas within gliding range in which you could have made a safe landing," they wrote.

The agency also took issue with Jacob continuing to film himself with a selfie stick after leaping from a plane.

"When you jumped out of N29508 you began recording the plane in the camera attached to the selfie-stick you were holding while you were descending to the ground," the FAA wrote in the letter.

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"In addition, after the crash, you recovered and then disposed of the wreckage of N29508 and recovered the cameras you attached to N29508 as well," they added. "Your actions as described above were careless and reckless so it has to endanger the life and property of another."

As of Thursday, Jacob's video has amassed more than 1.8 million views. The comments section for the video has been closed.

When reached by the New York Times and asked about the FAA's letter, Jacob reportedly said, "Where'd you get that information?" and did not reply to further emails.