WATCH: Youtuber Live-Streams Plane Landings at Heathrow in Storm; Over 6.7 Million Views

As winds of up to a record 122mph battered the UK on Friday, brought on by Storm Eunice, thousands tuned in as one man with a camera live-streamed planes landing in blustery conditions, along with commentary befitting a world-class sporting event.

Youtuber Jerry Dyers, who runs the channel Big Jet TV, offered interesting flight-related facts and cheered pilots on over the roar of wind and engine (“Come on, son! You can do it! You can do it!”). As many Brits hunkered down indoors due to the weather alert, many of them found Dyer’s commentary to be a welcomed and amusing distraction.

Some highlights from the almost eight-hour live-stream include:

1:14:10 –  Plane drops less than 20 feet (guesstimated) from the tarmac before aborting the landing.

1:44:30 – The amazing landing of an A320.

3:33:30 – Singapore Airlines plane skids dramatically after landing.

In case you are wondering why many of the planes approach the runway sideways, it’s a method called ‘crabbing’ whereby if there are crosswinds that could “push” the aircraft in the direction it is blowing and thus off-course, the pilot turns the nose of the plane into the wind while still flying it in a straight line towards the runway. As the landing gear touches the ground, the pilot rights the plane again, parallel to the runway.

Throughout the live-stream, over 200,000 viewers tuned in and over 20,000 new subscribers were gained, and that’s just during the eight hours.  Views continued to rise after the streaming ended and the video was made available on Youtube – over 6.7 million views at the time of writing – and apparently, quite a few of them were the pilots and passengers on board these planes who appreciated a different point of view of their experience; others expressed newfound appreciation for the skills of the pilots and air-traffic controllers.

Under normal circumstances, it might not have been as interesting to watch plane after plane land. But thanks to Dyers, who formerly ran a biking magazine and interior fit-out company, whose enthusiasm is infectious, there are quite a few new aviation enthusiasts now. It’s good to have hobbies.