A YouTuber who deliberately sent his plane crashing to the ground for views could be facing a jail term of 20 years, US authorities said on Thursday.

According to the Guardian, YouTuber Trevor Jacob has agreed to plead guilty to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.

The crime carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

The video in which he staged a plane crash has garnered three million views.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has already revoked the private pilot certificate of the 29-year-old.

The authorities in the US said that he purposely destroyed the wreckage of the small single-engine plane that he crashed in California's Los Padres national forest in December 2021.

In the clip titled 'I Crashed My Plane', Jacob is seen wearing a parachute out of a single-engine aircraft - which he claimed had malfunctioned - with a selfie stick in hand.

Cameras placed all over the aircraft show its out-of-control descent into the forest and its eventual crash landing.

The clip was initially met with skepticism from aviation enthusiasts, who questioned if the crash was a real accident.