Nightly News   |  May 18, 2011

Air Force One delays landing

Air Force One was on approach to land at Bradley International airport in Hartford on Wednesday when the pilot didn't like the weather he saw approaching. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

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This content comes from a Full-Text Transcript of the program.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: A few weeks back when an Air Force jet carrying Michelle Obama was forced to abort a landing and then circle around before finally landing at Andrews Air Force Base , we said at the time it's a practice that happens quite often at some busy airports. A lot of us have been on planes that had to skip a landing, climb back and try it again. And now it's happened to the president of the United States . Air Force One was on approach to land Bradley International Airport , Hartford today, when the pilot didn't like the weather he saw approaching the field. And now we get to hear what it sounded like over the radio between the tower and the president's 747.

Unidentified Air Force One Pilot: Tower, Air Force One is executing missed approach .

Unidentified Controller #1: Air Force One , roger. Maintain 3000, climb. Runway heading.

Pilot: Going to 3000. Air Force One.

WILLIAMS: The tower then told another aircraft in the area what had just transpired.

Unidentified Controller #2: Actually, the VIP just missed approach , so he's going to come back for another try, and once he gets on the ground, I'm expecting about 20 minutes to a half hour from now.

WILLIAMS: The president, of course, landed just fine, or you would have heard to the contrary by now. He was exactly two minutes late. And as the calm, business-like tone of the radio transmissions indicates, nobody was ever in any danger.