Three Things for April 22
1. FAA revokes YouTuber’s pilot certificate
On Wednesday, April 20 the Federal Aviation Administration ruled YouTuber Trevor Jacob purposely parachuted from his aircraft and allowed it to crash on December 24, 2021.
Jacob posted a YouTube video of himself piloting his plane in southern California when his engine stopped midway through the flight. A few seconds after the alleged engine failure, Jacob parachutesd out of the plane which then crashes in Los Padres National Forest.
According to The New York Times, the FAA sent a letter to Jacob on April 11 claiming he had violated aviation regulations and operated in a “careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.”
The agency revoked Jacob’s private pilot certificate immediately.
In a video posted by Jacob last week, he said, “The truth of that situation will come out with time and I’ll leave that at that.”
2. US Navy to decommission Cruiser-class vessels
The U.S. Navy has decided to abandon the modernization of the Ticonderoga-class cruisers after nearly a decade of debate.
According to USNI News, the Navy originally consisted of 27 Ticonderoga-class vessels, the lead boat of which was launched in 1981. Only 22 Ticonderoga-class vessels remain in service today.
The vessels have been undergoing a retrofit with the goal of keeping at least 11 of the ships in service until at least 2030. However, the Navy has decided to abandon the retrofit plans.
“It really comes down to — for these ships that are all over 30-years-old — whether we want to continue to pour resources into them from a modernization perspective when only one of the five has actually delivered,” said Vice Admiral Scott Conn, deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities.
If Congress chooses to approve the decommissioning process, the remaining vessels will be scheduled to leave the fleet by 2027.
3. Honduras ex-president extradited to the US
On Thursday, April 22 the Honduran government agreed to extradite former president Juan Orlando Hernández to the United States on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
According to AP News, this is a major role reversal for the previous president, as he used to be touted by the U.S. as a major ally in the drug war.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says Hernandez “abused his position as President of Honduras from 2014 through 2022 to operate the country as a narco-state.”
In court documents, U.S. prosecutors allege Hernandez was involved in a massive conspiracy which moved more than 550 tons of cocaine within U.S. borders. Some specific charges include possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy.
“Drug trafficking fuels violent crime and addiction; it devastates families, and it ravages communities,” Garland said. “The Justice Department is committed to disrupting the entire ecosystem of drug trafficking networks that harm the American people, no matter how far or how high we must go.”
