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 is 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 a simple ascent, 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.
“The airlines are going to have a hard time recovering from this. […] 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.