We don't like to assume the worst intentions. Still, it's starting to look more and more like something truly fishy happened on American Olympic athlete Trevor Jacob's ill-fated flight in his single-engined private airplane. Based on the supposed evidence uncovered by the internet at large, Jacob may soon have much to answer for.
For those lucky enough to have avoided this whole fiasco, the 28-year-old ex-Olympian was piloting his vintage 1940s Taylorcraft BL-65 single-engine leisure plane across Southern California when he supposedly suffered from engine failure. After bailing out of his aircraft and deploying his suspectly present parachute, the Taylorcraft continued to glide perfectly normally into the side of a mountain.
Trevor Jacob swears that no foul play or generalized funny business was taking place at the time of the incident, in late November of last year. Members of online message boards are not usually ones to take anything at face value and promptly launch their own independent investigation. The findings of this venture were consolidated into one video by the YouTube channel Pete's Guides.
The video is quick to point out several primary clues. The first of which is the black metal stepping platform attached to the aircraft in photos taken before Jacob's ownership. The photo also shows items like the pilot's side door handle in its closed position, as well as the pitot tube airspeed indicator in the standard configuration.
In footage from the incident, the stepping platform and pitot tube are mysteriously missing from the aircraft as Jacob bails out of the World War II-era vintage aircraft. Most surprisingly, it appears, based on photographs from before the flight, that the engine had been replaced at some point in the past. The primary indicator of this is the iconic "L" logo, short for the Lycoming Company, which designed the four-cylinder aircraft engine often found in this airframe on the valve covers.
The valve covers seem to be of a different type in the video. Smooth red paint replaces the prominent Lycoming badge so often sticking out of the engine bat in Taylorcraft planes. It's all adding up to something that the FAA may soon use as evidence against Jacobs to file criminal charges. If Jacob is indeed guilty, he may be in for a world of hot water sometime soon. Only a court of law will be able to make that decision. Check out the video below if you want to see more.
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