An airplane stops landing and takes off again

Footage was captured Friday in Washington of a plane aborting its landing and then taking off to resume its maneuver.

• Read more: [EN IMAGES] A deadly storm disrupted the Christmas weekend in the US

• Read more: Hundreds of thousands of Quebecers are still without electricity

Pilot and commander Dominique Toust explains, “For normal people it’s very interesting to see a plane turn like that, but for us, we practice over and over again in the simulator. It’s almost a normal maneuver”.

If the pilot feels he cannot reach the target on the runway, he goes for a simple climb, Mr. Toust explains.

“It’s math,” he says.

When the weather becomes difficult, additional fuel is scheduled accordingly, allowing the pilot to retry the landing.

Air delays: A snowball effect

The storm is still causing delays at several airports.

The worst conditions for the entire flight were not wind or snow, but a combination of the two, Mr. Toust explains.

“It’s unfortunate that it falls during the Christmas holidays,” he said.

“It will be difficult for airlines to recover from this. […] One delay begets another. This delay is difficult to catch even after the storm subsides.

According to Dominic Daoust, it can take up to a week to get back to normal.