Big Jet TV planespotter Jerry Dyer is in talks with NASA over filming a rocket launch in Florida after captivating the nation with his stomach-churning footage during Storm Eunice at Heathrow Airport.
Since being viewed more than 6.7 million times on YouTube, Jerry is now talking with the US space agency about filming upcoming Kennedy Space Center rocket launches in Florida.
The 58-year-old also claims that airlines and airports are also interested in having him come and film footage for them, he told the Times.
Jerry, the son of an airline captain from Sussex, has loved all things aviation since he was a child but became an interior designer before pursuing his passion in 2016.
He also worked at the London Stock Exchange and running mountain bike and motocross magazines.
His father would take him on the flight deck of freight planes in the 1950s. ‘I sat in the jump seat, watching him, and loved it,’ he said.
Subscribers from all over the globe pay around £4-a-month for two live shows a week, commentaries from airports all over the UK and Europe, with access to exclusive footage and invites to fan-only events.
He has really made a name for himself outside of the UK with viewers in Micronesia, New Zealand and Alaska all tuning in.
This has catapulted him to being approched by NASA.
He told the Times: ‘We’re going to do a rocket launch live with Nasa.
‘That biting-your-fingernails moment: even for one carrying a satellite, not people, there’s always that anticipation. Is this thing going to go up a couple of hundred feet and come back down, barrel into the launch pad and blow up into a massive mushroom cloud?’
Jerry even has his own modified Big Jet TV van with a scaffold on top so he can film planes on approach from a high vantage point.
It took him a while to get approval from Heathrow, where he was first told to back off by police and then his tripod was seen a ‘missile launcher’.
His battle for a better view led to him falling out with rivals after he was accused of trimming a bush outside the Heathrow Hyatt hotel to get a better spot than the rivals.
One critic has even set up a Twitter site called ‘The Lies of Big Jet TV’, where the unnamed troll insists his excitable commentary of landings in storms suggest he ‘almost wants a crash to happen’, adding: ‘This is not an aviation streamer, he is an ambulance chaser’.
When asked about his critics he tweeted this afternoon, Jerry replied: ‘There’s a group of them who have been doing it for 4 years! I think they secretly love us’.
And Friday’s live broadcast has won him tens of thousands of new fans. Big Jet TV viewers were enthralled as Mr Dyer yelled over the wind ‘that is insane’, ‘go on my son’, ‘you beauty’, ‘bosh, get it down mate’ and ‘wallop’ as the jets touched down. On one occasion he sparked a flurry of tweets as he screamed: ‘Here come the Russians’ as an Aeroflot plane approached, a phrase which then began trending on Twitter.
Later he screamed: ‘The big daddy from Qatar is coming in’, sang Patsy Kline’s ‘Crazy’ when the winds peaked and promised viewers he would stay next to the runway filming until ‘Eunice stops’.
He is supported by his friend and assistant Gilly, who is watching off site and tells Jerry which planes are coming in and deals with emails and tweets from fans.
Speaking from the paddock next to Heathrow’s south runway, Mr Dyer told BBC Radio 2: ‘This is the best scenario you could possibly imagine – 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 70mph 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’. And praising the pilots he said; ‘Although this is a lot of fun, don’t forget, it’s all about the pilots, they’ve got big cahoonas, you know. But the ladies… Obviously not’.
Explaining how they do it, Nicky Kelvin, Head of the Points Guy UK, told MailOnline: ‘We’re well into winter storm season in the U.K., with Storm Eunice causing havoc around the country and with that, unavoidable travel disruptions. Strong winds do cause challenges for pilots and ground staff, but they are nothing that is ever considered dangerous. Every six months, pilots practice these exact manoeuvres in the safety of a flight simulator to ensure that, should the conditions arise for real, they are well prepared and able to deal with them’.
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Jerry Dyer on the top of his Big Jet TV van at Heathrow airport today as he filmed and commentated on planes landing during Storm Eunice, winning him 200,000 fans. He was being interviewed by ITN
Big Jet TV host Jerry Dyer (pictured) has become an internet sensation. He told viewers to ‘Batten down the hatches, take the day off , grab the popcorn and tune-in for all the action’
British Airways passenger plane struggles with the high winds on approach to Heathrow Airport
Jerry’s commentary has become the talk of social media and won him an army of fans
Big Jet TV captured the planes being pushed and pulled across the sky on approach
This BA jet from Edinburgh to London ended up going all the way back to Scotland after failing to land
After multiple attempts to land at Heathrow, this BA jet from Chicago diverted to Geneva
Big Jet TV captured the moment many of the jets were forced to make multiple attempts to land. One plane from Chicago had three tries before flying on to Geneva.
One BA service from Edinburgh to Heathrow got all the way to London before turning back and returning to Scotland.
A TAP Air Portugal flight from Athens was filmed making contact with the runway before the pilot lost his nerve and taking off again.
Other planes from Europe got to the south coast before turning back for their airport of origin as at least 20 planes tried and failed to land.
Hundreds of train and ferry services are cancelled, bridges and roads shut and 100-plus planes were grounded as major airlines including British Airways and easyJet axed flights as Storm Eustice in the country on Friday. London City Airport was shut completely.
The UK will be battered by more strong gales and wet weather as the third storm in just a week charges towards the country.
Storm Franklin, which will bring ‘gale force westerly winds with severe and damaging gusts’, is set to hit the UK in the early hours of Monday morning, with an amber weather warning issued for Northern Ireland, the Met Office has said.
It comes as thousands of homes are still without power and train services continue to be disrupted after Storm Eunice barrelled through the country and left a trail of destruction in its wake.
Some 155,000 people are still without power today after the record-breaking gales of 122mph howled through the country – with the Association of British Insurers indicating that the clean-up could cost more than £300 million.
