Large swathes of the UK trapped at home because of Storm Eunice are distracting themselves with Big Jet TV, a gripping YouTube livestream that shows commercial aircraft attempting to land at Heathrow airport while battling winds of up to 100 mph.
On Friday, a storm hit the UK that forecasters believe to be one of the worst in 30 years, with a red warning issued for London and most of the south of England.
For context, in cities like London, we’re not great with dramatic weather conditions, literally — the slightest weather inconvenience can bring us to a standstill.
⚠ #StormEunice is going to bring damaging and disruptive winds for most of the UK today. 🔴 See the latest Red Warnings for wind below and be aware of the wider Amber Warning area. Exposed coastal areas could get gusts in excess of 90mph Latest 👉 https://t.co/QwDLMfRBfs
There are significant reports of damage across the country, including the sail cover of the O2 Arena in London being ripped to shreds and major damage to homes and trees.
But we’re also culturally not built to take very serious things seriously, so it’s not surprising that in the midst of one of the worst storms to hit, many of us are glued to Big Jet TV.
The star of it all is Jerry Dyer and his BAFTA Award–worthy commentary that has captured just under 240,000 viewers and a large section of the internet.
Let's place bets on which TV show/broadcaster will snap up #BigJet TV star Jerry Dyer, the man live broadcasting his YouTube channel live from Heathrow. Every TV news crew is either replicating Heathrow landing footage or sending crews to interview Jerry! Star of #StormEunice
Pilots have been struggling to land at Heathrow Airport due to strong winds from Storm Eunice. Video courtesy of @BigJetTVLIVE who have a live stream from the airport since this morning, showing planes landing. @HeathrowAirport #stormeunice #Heathrow
Pitched as the “most exciting live aviation channel on YouTube,” on a day like this, Dyer has not disappointed and his channel has exploded in popularity, gaining 45k new subscribers over the past 24 hours. His audience continues to grow. Who knew that so many of us were aviation stans?
Big Jet TV is England’s Super Bowl and I am here for it #StormEunice
Watching Big Jet TV
the 100k people watching big jet tv
Today feels like the most British thing. Big Jet TV man having the best day of his life with some wild commentary, the O2 roof blowing off, Twitter is on top form. This is like the weather-based equivalent of Eurovision. An absolute dream. #StormEunice
I’m sat here judging the way pilots land planes in 70mph winds on Big Jet TV like I can even parallel park my car
OK, you can't *all* say Big Jet TV. https://t.co/z4QJ56zneS
Dyer tried to answer every question and comment coming up in the chat for his YouTube stream in between the planes landing and had to battle for sound with the storm.
At one point Dyer paused and shouted, “How are you doing out there, are you good? What a day.”
A viewer asked if a “touch and go” landing had taken place and Dyer said no and that it would be a very rare occurrence. A “touch and go” maneuver is done when an aircraft realizes it would struggle to land after touching the runway and returns to land properly later. This happened just two weeks ago and was also captured by Dyer.
Storm Eunice was predicted to bring “damaging and disruptive winds,” with a record-breaking 122 mph wind gust reported on the Isle of Wight. True to the warnings, people online have been sharing just how bad the conditions are around them.
The storm is responsible for shredding the iconic O2 arena, which had to be evacuated after damage to its cover.
More and more of the Dome is being shredded
Trees have been uprooted.
Tree down in Bude video from Kai Wilson Page
Buildings have been damaged.
Just the side of our apartment block in Leeds blowing away
Some people have literally been swept off their feet.
These people get blown over by the wind as Storm Eunice batters people to the ground in Croydon, South London. #StormEunice
While others have embraced the wind for meaningful purposes.
Humans. Of course. #Eunice #StaySafe
And it stole this person’s glasses.
Attempted to go to the gym in these winds. Had to turn back because I lost my glasses 😂😂 https://t.co/XN3TCLaaVI
But at least we have Big Jet TV to watch.
Ikran Dahir contributed reporting to this story.