Meet the man behind Big Jet TV who has 90,000,000 views on YouTube

Over on YouTube, there is a small community of dedicated fans of Jerry Dyer.

Anytime there is a huge storm, strong winds or heavy rain, people from across the world log on to watch Jerry speak enthusiastically about A380s, 747s or 787s as they sway and surf through the skies and onto London Heathrow’s tarmac.

And while watching planes land might not be compelling viewing for you,there are 450,000 subscribers who would disagree.

Jerry, 61, is the founder of Big Jet TV, an independent YouTube channel which tracks the arrivals of the large jets every week or so.

He has witnessed some of the worst UK storms from his viewing platform, which is constructed on top of a van he uses to livestream the jets making their teetering landings.

Metro went along to see how Jerry creates his popular livestreams during Storm Eowyn – and why he keeps coming back to his trusty viewing spot at the UK’s busiest airport.

Sometimes pilots make small gestures like flashing lights or even putting their hand out of the window to show they’ve seen Jerry on his Big Jet TV platform (Picture: Belinda Jiao)

He told Metro: ‘I love doing it. We’re very lucky as we’ve got a fantastic following – a great community – online, which these days is quite difficult to get a good, friendly community on social media.’

His channel began in 2016 when Jerry recorded his own commentary after watching a Twitter livestream, and attracted positive feedback from viewers.

Over the past nine years it’s expanded hugely, with 90 million views on his channel. The audience includes occasional viewers, committed subscribers and professionals such as pilots, cabin crew, technicians and air traffic controllers who all tune in to watch the Londoner’s warm presence.

But despite only setting it up nearly a decade ago, his love of aviation can be traced back to his childhood. As the son of a pilot who used to fly the Constellations with Skyways of London and British Eagle with the carrier Britannia, he believes his passion is hereditary.

‘My father flew back in the day and I flew with him quite often on his old aeroplanes,’ he said.

‘That’s where the heritage has come from, it literally runs through my veins, aviation.’

One of Jerry’s Heathrow streaming spots is directly under the landing path, with huge jets landing close by (Picture: Belinda Jiao)

Some horses, unfazed by the loud jets, were keeping company to Jerry (Picture: Belinda Jiao)

He now works full-time on the channel along with the director of operations Gilly Prestwood, who feeds him live plane information through an earpiece.

Big Jet TV made headlines in 2022 during Storm Eunice when dozens of shaky landings from skilled pilots were captured live by Jerry, with some being forced to abort seconds before touchdown.

‘Conditions today [during Storm Eowyn] have been a lot calmer than what we’ve had in the past,’ he said.

‘Storm Eunice was a big one for us, and for everybody else as well. That was an incredible day with a tremendous amount of go arounds, which is where they abort the landing because they’re either too fast or a wind gust catches them.

‘They have to fly out, carry out a go around procedure, go around and come back again. They have three attempts and if they don’t make it, they have todivert because of fuel. Today, we haven’t seen any go-arounds.’

He added he expected winds to be stronger yesterday, but still managed to get some good footage.

‘It’s still a little bit blustery but certainly nothing that these guys can’t handle,’ he said, referring to the pilots.

‘Storms are a big one for everybody because it’s very interesting to see how well these pilots literally control the aircraft during landing because it is all manual.

‘You see, a lot of people know about auto pilot, but these aircraft in these conditions can only operate autopilot up to a certain wind speed, so they have to do it manually. That’s where the skills of the pilots come in.’

Jerry said his channel is educational as a result, and people with a fear of flying have previously told him they used to be scared of flying, but are now fully confident after witnessing how pilots manage the windy conditions.

Jerry gets an optimal view into the Heathrow runway from his homemade platform which he has to partially dissemble after every stint (Picture: Belinda Jiao)

Twice a week, Jerry will go to one of his prime spots around the Heathrow safety perimeter. On Friday, when Storm Eowyn landed in the UK, he was up early to set up the platform, dressed in head-to-toe in waterproof gear, with a hot drink and warming pads inside his shoes to keep him going.

‘Weather comes into it, but we are live every Wednesday and Sunday regardless. Even if I’ve been away overseas there’s been times when I’ve just landed, got home, quick cup of coffee, straight in the van and straight up here just so I can give our members a show on Sunday.

‘There are people who rely on us. For some people, it’s a comfort blanket. We’ve got people who suffer from depression and who are lonely.

‘That’s why half of this is the humbling part of it, the fact that we are making people’s lives happier and helping people who are recovering.’

Jerry was unable to say how many planes he has featured on the livestream, but he estimated it to be in the ‘hundreds of thousands.’

Pilots who are fans of Big Jet TV have found creative ways to show their appreciation when it is safe to do so. Some pilots have even opened their windows to lean out and wave when taxing while others have flashed their wing lights to say hello.

He often breaks into song during the live stream, especially when viewers’ comments happen to be song names, with him taking ‘just any opportunity to sing as people like it.’

Big Jet TV has no plans to stop, and Jerry said they have ‘found the right format and everybody loves what they’ve got.’

‘What we have now is a fantastic community and we’ll just carry on doing what we’re doing until I can’t do it anymore,’ he said.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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