Images of a plane which aborts its landing and takes off again in order to better resume its maneuver were captured on Friday in Washington.

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What Dominic Daoust, pilot and commander, explains is that "for ordinary mortals it's very impressive to see an airplane make a comeback like that, but for us, it's something that we practice at simulator again and again. It's a maneuver that is almost normal."

If the pilot considers that he will not be able to reach the target on the runway, he therefore proceeds to simply climb back up, explains Mr. Daoust.

"It's math," he says.

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

Air delays: a snowball effect

The storm is still causing several delays at airports.

The worst conditions in full flight are neither wind nor snow, but rather a combination of the two, explains Mr. Daoust.

"It's unfortunate the timing of it all makes it fall during the Christmas holidays," he said.

“Airlines are going to have a hard time recovering […] one delay begets another. It is difficult to catch up on this delay, even if the storm is over.

According to Dominic Daoust, a return to normal could take up to a week.