Internet
Storm landings at Heathrow become a YouTube hit
An airplane approaching Düsseldorf (symbol image). Photo: Federico Gambarini/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Better than football: Airplane fan Jerry Dyer wowed an audience of millions with a rather unusual YouTube live stream. He commented on landings at Heathrow Airport during the storm.
They still exist, the magical moments – also on the Internet: During the storm “Eunice” – called “Zeynep” in Germany – a YouTube live stream of landings at Heathrow Airport became a network hit.
At times on Friday, more than 230,000 spectators watched as the aircraft enthusiast Jerry Dyer commented on the arrivals with enthusiastic shouts on his YouTube channel “Big Jet TV”. “When I went to sleep, it was 5.5 million views,” said the astonished commentator in an interview with the British BBC on Saturday.
Stunning viewership
His hours of euphoric live commentary on the sometimes spectacular storm landings had tens of thousands of Brits glued to their screens at home or in the office. «You can feel it! It’s like being in a washing machine,” Dyer exclaimed as a plane was swayed by the violent wind speeds. Some of the machines needed several attempts on the approach to the British capital London before they managed to touch down on the ground.
The huge audience overwhelmed Dyer. Normally he has maybe 10,000 hits at the end of a day. “Big Jet TV may be the end of football,” football commentator Clive Tyldesley tweeted appreciatively. Another Twitter user wrote that he would like to see the landings on the big screen over a few beers in the pub – and got thousands of likes.