‘Big Jet TV’ host brings his love for aviation to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) — A London native is visiting Anchorage this week, to share his love for aviation with people from all walks of life.

Jerry Dyer livestreams events from airports all over the world nearly year-round. This week he wanted to introduce his followers to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, because, in his words, it is unlike any other airport in the world.

Upon meeting Dyer, someone can immediately tell that he has a love for aviation that is absolutely infectious to anyone in his presence.

“You just can’t stand there and go, ‘Oh yeah, that’s really good. That’s another 747.’ It’s like, wow,” said Dyer. “... How can you not be impressed by big heavy stuff coming out in front of you weighing 300 tons or however much as it does. It’s just a massive achievement that you see in front of you and you have to be in awe of it.”

He is the founder and host of “Big Jet TV.” It’s a livestream aviation channel, predominantly on Youtube. He says as many as 8,000 people will tune in to watch one of his events. He currently has as many as 300,000 subscribers.

“The fact that I’m sharing my enthusiasm with an audience and having that interaction, it hooked me straight away,” Dyer said. ”Even though the first time we went live I had like five people watching. Now we’ve got like upwards of 6000, 7,000, 8,000, 10,000 people watching any one live show at once.”

During his livestreams, Dyer talks for hours at a time without a break. On Thursday he talked for more than four hours straight.

“I am a bit of a blabbermouth anyway…to be honest with you, I can do 10 hours. We finish in 10 hours and it feels like it is gone just like that,” Dyer said.

He does all of it with just one person who is talking in his ear from more than 4,000 miles away — Gilly Prestwood, who is his director of operations.

“She is in England,” Dyer said.

He started Big Jet TV about six years ago because he said his former job didn’t excite him. Dyer says his love for aviation started as a young boy. His father was a captain with the old Constellations with Skyways of London

“Regardless of what career paths I’ve had, I’ve always been looking in the sky in awe of aviation,” Dyer said. “Who knew that one day I would create something I absolutely love.”

This week his love brought him to Anchorage. He said the thing that separates Ted Stevens from other airports he has visited is the abundance and diversity of big, heavy jets.

“There’s nowhere in the world that you will see a line of 747′s being led out by a DC-3 or a DC-6. That’s the kind of variety we get here,” Dyer said. “But coupled with that, and to be honest with you it’s something that I hadn’t noticed until I got here, is the amazing scenery that’s here as well.”

Dyer has done more than 1,000 livestreams, and at the end of the day, he says his goal is to entertain and educate.

“We get people who have a fear of flying, who now say after having watched the storm shows, saying that they don’t have a fear of flying anymore. You know, that they’re completely confident because of how skilled the pilots are,” Dyer said.

He said the job keeps him busy pretty much year-round, and he only goes on holiday five days a year to go golfing with his “mates” in Spain.

Dyer added that his operation is funded through memberships. Big Jet TV has premium, first class, and superclass subscribers. Thursday was his last day in Anchorage, and after that he is going back home to prepare for his next livestream event.

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