Unless you've been living under a rock since the beginning of last week, you can't have failed to notice a social media phenomenon that has gripped aviation fans in the last few days.
As Storm Eunice battered the UK last Friday (18th February) and into the weekend just gone, with record gusts of up to 122 mph recorded on The Needles on the Isle of Wight - making it the most powerful storm to impact the South of England since the Great Storm of 1987 - one YouTube channel was also breaking records of its own.
Big Jet TV is the brainchild of presenter and long time aviation enthusiast Jerry Dyer, who first launched the site and accompanying YouTube channel back in 2017, and is well known in the flying community for his videos which capture and offer commentary on planes landing and taking off from different locations in the UK.
His 8 hour live feed captured from the runway at Heathrow Airport last Friday, as the Met Office issued a rarely seen Red Weather Warning for severe gale force winds of 70 mph in London and the South East of England, was at one point attracting a peak audience of over 200,000 viewers.
The full video of the livestream is now fast approaching 8 million views in total. To put it into perspective, the viewing figures Dyer's channel was attracting at its peak was double the average audience and triple the average ratings of daytime BBC One or ITV programming at that time.
As we write this, Jerry has now become something of a national hero, with TV and radio stations and newspapers clamouring to speak to the man who offered almost Olympic-level commentary as pilots navigated vast jet planes safely down to the ground in the challenging conditions that Storm Eunice presented.
Whilst his genuine love and enthusiasm shined through in his commentary, and has undoubtedly enamoured him to many who chose to batten down the hatches and stay inside whilst the bad weather hit, meaning Jerry will certainly be remembered to 2022 how Michael Fish is to 1987, what it has also brought into focus is the level of skill and expertise that it takes to pilot aircraft safely when the weather is as severe as it has been, for which one can only have full admiration.
Speaking to BBC Radio 2 on Friday, Dyer agreed, saying "Big kudos to the pilots and the crews working at the airports, this is the most exciting stuff you could possibly get … Right now, these conditions with 70 mph gusting winds, it's pretty intense. And what is great is you get to see the skill of the pilot and how they manage to handle it."
With FlyDays, our range of Flying Lessons and Flight Simulator experience packages offer the chance to learn how to control and safely navigate an aeroplane or helicopter, even under difficult weather conditions. You can purchase one of these now with one of our open Gift Vouchers.
