Wow. That kind of thing should not happen, unless there was some sort of “special” reason the flight crew was concerned about the approach. It just does NOT happen with AF1.
Did you read the article? The go around was due to visibility. It's no big deal.
When you can't see the runway environment --- time to go....
Climb out --have another coffee-- Hold for a bit....
Then - Take another look
BTW -- Not every US airport is equipped for zero/zero landings.
Even when the aircraft is equipped and certified, the ground-based systems must be are installed, likewise certified and continuously monitored by ATC.
Welcome to instrument flight rules...
The pilot was a wimp. He should have just gone for it. ;-)
Wrong! The aircraft was at minimum decent altitude and to continue the approach from that point the pilot is required to have visual contact with the runway or lights leading into the runway. What occurred with Air Force One was neither an emergency nor uncommon.
I guess it’s true that “Ya can’t win em all.”
Bradley International is pretty much alongside the Connecticut River. In the kind of weather that New England is having this week, there is a lot of fog so almost all landing are instrument landings. Even on most instrument landings the pilot expects to sight the runway at a certain altitude. The pilot did not on the first approach so the approach was aborted.
Remember that there are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are damn few old bold pilots. Rather run the risk of doing an unintended Sullenberger maneuver on the Connecticut River, the pilot decided to give it a second try.
As usual, the press corps was unaware that had the pilot continued on the first approached, they may have become the press corpses.