Dude was filming himself flying, the engine stops… and all of a sudden he decides to bail out.
No effort to do anything, he just bails out.
I don’t know why he thought his video would even seem realistic.
But then the result was even more unrealistic / suspicious.
This reads like something Beavis and Butthead would do.
I don’t think he could have been realistic in a single take.
Like he’s obligated to cooperate with the investigation but he’s within his rights to just say “hey this feels like a witch hunt I am not participating or giving statements at all” and it’s not clear how much they really would have done.
Absolute certainty he’d lose his license maybe there’s penalties or fines for stonewalling the investigation, but like it would probably blow over as long as they made sure he never got near the controls of an airplane again.
But then he decided to obstruct a federal investigation. Like that’s the one thing you really can’t do ask Martha Stewart.
https://generalaviationnews.com/2015/03/16/misplaced-fuel-se...
https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/systems/dont-cause-y...
I think he was at a weird intersection where doing all the things he "should" have in the case of an actual engine failure, (try to restart it, make a radio call, try to land (there were plenty of options to land)) and somehow faking that none of those worked / were not sufficient .... would also have introduced a lot of variables he couldn't control / still resulted in a video that didn't look right / raised more suspicious.
Of course the issue ultimately was that doing none of those things was suspicious too... and you have to hide the evidence that your plane was in fact fully functional ...
Turns out it isn't an easy thing to fake.
Like, I'm not a pilot but I've read exactly enough to know that the way he handled this is the opposite of the way a private pilot is trained to. So he managed, I assume, to get the idea in his head that a video of someone bailing out of a private plane would attract the attention of low-knowledge rubes for attention and clicks... While not attracting the attention of every other amateur pilot who knows how to work YouTube, as well as the FAA.
Strange train of thought.
> On May 22, 2021 Student Pilot Brian Parsley was completed his solo long cross country flight. Approximately 12 miles from airport started experiencing rough engine. Assuming it was "carb ice" took appropriate measures. The camera was started after it cleared to show instructor should it happen again. Shortly after communicating to ATC the video picks up. The aircraft ran out of fuel and this was 100% my responsibility at the end of the day. I did do my flight plan, checked fuel, and all necessary checks prior to leaving. It's also worth noting I've flown the same route with my instructor. So using this assumption and the fact I did my flight planning correctly I flew. This was the wrong decision and the biggest takeaway for me. I will get fuel going forward every time I land regardless of what gages state or distance. That mistake could've cost a life. This was more than just a "near death" experience. It was an incredible learning opportunity for others as well.
On my solo long cc flight, I got lost during the second leg and actually worried about the extra fuel that I burned searching for landmarks. Once I figured out where I was and landed, I went to top off the tanks just in case (in reality I should have had plenty of fuel to get home but I was paranoid).
That's when I found out that my credit card, the only payment I had with me, had expired a week before...
Yeah want a weird line of thought.
It's funny because of all things you can count on if you get views on YouTube is ... SCRUTINY. Right or wrong scrutiny. Every rando with some idea of how to fly ... or even none, is going to watch that video and pick it apart.
And man that video was easy to pick apart. Dude even had is door open before the engine quit.