Maybe someone said earlier in the thread but I have to imagine that even a cheap plane isn’t cheap.
Thanks for the corection. But still Federal property, so possibly making him subject to some Federal charges.
A quick search turned up a few Taylorcraft in good condition for between $20-30K, so that one, which was nominally not airworthy, probably cost him less than $20,000.
I just found two videos from someone called Geoff Harris, which, if they are correct, provide perhaps the most damning evidence against Jacob that I’ve seen so far.
Harris has used Google Earth and Google Studio to recreate the flight path of the plane from take off to crash, and to discern, with a fair amount of accuracy, Jacob’s skydive path as well.
The original video includes at least two shots of the plane in its death spiral, seen from above. But Harris points out that it would have been nearly impossible for Jacob to have been above the plane, because of his long free fall. Also, those shots do not show the amount of vertical descent that he would be experiencing under canopy. The presumption is that they were taken by a drone or from another aircraft.
Harris goes on to point out discrepancies in the timeline, as demonstrated by the angle of the sun, of Jacob’s arrival at the crash site. It seems to be several hours later, leading Harris to theorize that it may actually be a different day. There are numerous other continuity errors in matters like the length of his beard stubble.
And why is he carrying a Glock pistol?
Here’s another video from Harris.
Maybe there’s something buried in the definitions that would make this not apply, but purposefully crashing a plane seems to be a substantial federal crime, period:
The “special aircraft jurisdiction” seems to include, among other aircraft, all planes that are in flight in the USA, and all US-registered planes in flight anywhere in the world.
Let’s not forget littering, too.
Thanks for the update. It’s reassuring that the FAA could act quickly in such an egregious case. Let’s hope there are more criminal charges to follow.
Does anyone know how much he paid for that plane and how long he owned it before the “engine failure”? Was it insured and did the insurance company balk? Who paid to remove the plane from the crash site?
He hasn’t been criminally charged yet. The FAA isn’t a law enforcement agency; it can revoke licenses and fine people, but they can’t charge people with crimes.
As we’ve noted before when an unruly passenger disrupts a flight, the FAA does not have the power to prosecute people who do reckless stunts with planes.
However, this could lead to criminal charges, or perhaps private lawsuits.
If you Google 1940 Taylorcraft for sale, you’ll find them for between $4,200 and $30,000. One site said average is about $15,000. The one Jacob destroyed was not airworthy when he bought it: its engine hadn’t been recently serviced, etc., so the price he paid would have been at the low end of the scale.
Although people talked a lot about insurance fraud, it is highly unlikely he could have gotten insurance without getting it certified. I haven’t heard anything about him making an insurance claim, and he’d have been extremely stupid (I know, I know) to have tried. Also, for such a relatively low-value plane, how much could he have possibly gotten?
Jacob rented a helicopter to remove the wreckage a few days after the incident. Presumably at his own expense. However, I believe doing so was a violation of FAA regs, if not of Federal or other law.
Yeah, thanks, I knew that. I was just a little sloppy adding “more” in there.
Here’s the full FAA letter to Jacob. (PDF)
I just cannot get over the fact that he videoed his own face on the way down. On purpose. The oblivious narcissism just gets me every time. (The FAA noticed this, too.)
Here’s the uncut version of what Jacob did.
In related news, the Redbull-sponsored “pilot swap” stunt didn’t go as planned.
Red Bull gives you wings!!!
But the FAA can take them away from you.
I was wondering how they were going to do that; given how much they were promoting it in advance & am surprised they went thru with it, & that Red Bull let them go thru with it given they were denied a waiver by the FAA. A little hard to deny you didn’t know what you did was wrong when you asked for permission & were told, “No”
Is there any footage of the ensuing crater?
Not much of a crater.
Great marketing photo for them. (or maybe for Monster or Stihl)
Red Bull gives you wings…and gravity takes them away,