A teenage friend of Wesley Crusher aboard the Enterprise who, after missing out on the Starfleet Academy entrance tests, takes a shuttlecraft and nearly dies in Coming of Age.
Jake Kurland is a young civilian living aboard the Enterprise and a friend of Wesley Crusher. He appears in the first-season episode Coming of Age, set in 2364, in which Wesley is chosen to sit the Starfleet Academy entrance examination at Relva VII and Jake narrowly is not.
Ashamed to face his father, Jake takes a shuttlecraft without permission, meaning to reach Beltane IX and sign on to a freighter. The engine fails and the craft begins to fall towards Relva VII, out of reach of the transporter and tractor beam.
Picard calmly talks him through restarting the engine and using the atmosphere to bounce the shuttle clear. Jake returns safely, and the incident is noted by Dexter Remmick, who is investigating the ship at the time.