What is the deal with these crazy, stupid, and dangerous pilots?

[russ_watters]

TL;DR Summary

Pilots doing stupid and illegal things for clicks.

Ok, seriously, what the heck is going on here?

First was YouTuber Trevor Jacobs who faked an engine failure and then jumped out of a plane he just bought for the purpose of crashing it. There were half a dozen fairly obvious issues with his story, probably the most obvious being the parachute he claimed to always wear while flying despite dozens of videos showing him flying and never wearing one. The FAA didn't buy it either and revoked his license:
https://www.independent.com/2022/04...icense-revoked-following-scathing-faa-report/

I won't link his video because he doesn't deserve any more clips, but you can give this guy a click for his good breakdown of all the issues with the video:


Next up is a couple of pilots who tried to swap Cessnas in flight. These guys even had corporate sponsorship (Red Bull, of course). They were open/honest and put some engineering effort into making the planes nose-dive in a stable configuration for the stunt. They even notified/requested permission from the FAA. Unfortunately the FAA was not impressed/entertained and denied them permission to violate the Federal Aviation Regulations. So they went ahead and did it anyway. One pilot successfully switched planes. That guy's [former] plane, however, nosed all the way over into what looks like an inverted spin, and crashed (it had a parachute, but we didn't get to see if it worked at all - Red Bull chose not to air that part). The other guy landed via parachute.

Given that these guys dotted all their i's and crossed all their t's...and then tore up and threw away the paper, the FAA investigation might be simpler than the first guy's.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/failed-plane-swap-stunt-prompts-faa-investigation/story?id=84295598

Seriously, what the heck?

 

[Baluncore]

Seriously, what the heck?

They are performers, pushing the envelope to get attention in a maelstrom of distraction.
It is working, you took the bait.

 

[russ_watters]

They are performers, pushing the envelope to get attention in a maelstrom of distraction.
It is working, you took the bait.

In my defense I didn't watch either original video, I only promoted people trying to profit off the stupidity of others.

 

[anorlunda]

Many people are now making a living doing YouTube videos. Some even get rich. What do you expect?

It's possible that guy made enough money from that video to buy the plane he crashed and still make a profit. The controversy would draw even more views. This thread will draw even more views.

No doubt there are some Darwin Award candidates among them.

A recent trend are videos about U.S. Weapons destroying Russian tanks in Ukraine. But all the video shots are from U.S. Weapons development and training, none from Ukraine.

When you dangle money, people will compete to win it. That's life.

 

[Klystron]

The history of aviation is littered with corpses of daredevils. The insane live among us. Wing walking stunts were once a staple of air shows and circuses, though usually pilots remained at the controls as crashing planes made poor return on investment.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/wing-walkers-photos/