[Wage Slave]

That is interesting.

Last night I was on a flight that made it all the way to the intended destination with wheels down and about to land. Then the wheels went up, back up in the air we went, and back to our original departure city. All due to fog.

Since I had nothing else to occupy my mind I spent a while wondering who made the decision not to land....the pilot, the tower, or the corporate lawyers?

[biff]

The pilot did, he was in command and was the one making the decisions. Airports being below minimum visibility are never “closed” and cannot refuse landings unless there is an emergency on the field or extremely severe weather such as blizzards with deep snow.

[TalonDJ]

I spent a while wondering who made the decision not to land....the pilot, the tower, or the corporate lawyers?

They call it decision height. You can get all the way there on instruments and skill but when you get down to a certain altitude and you STILL cant see the runway, you abort. Only the pilot can say 'hey, I still don't see the runway.' No one else can be sure if, when you get down to that point of almost no return, you can see the lights or not.