Air carrier flight crew landing at fsd after tower closure broke out of 400 foot ceiling to discover...

Narrative:

On approach to runway 03 at fsd we were kept a bit higher than we would have liked; but aircraft was cleared; configured and stable for the entire approach. We had the current weather conditions from AWOS; as the tower was closed and center was controlling us. Weather was 400 foot ceiling with 1 mile visibility. Braking action was unknown at that current time. Neither of us had been to fsd in at least a year and had more than a bit of concern with landing at a strange airport in snow; lifr; with a closed tower. We broke out of the clouds around 400 ft as expected but the captain called out a vehicle of some sort about three quarters of the way down the runway. I saw it's yellow flashing safety light as well and we initiated a go around at that time. While being vectored around for a second approach the center controller told us that he should have been informed by the airport when snow plowing or vehicles would be on the active runway. Apparently the snow plow had called clear to the controller but had returned to the runway to spread more sand and thought he could finish before we called for our arrival. We completed our approach to a landing the second time with no other unusual events. After blocking in the captain informed me that he thought he had missed making the 'recommended' call on CTAF after we were switched over from center.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew landing at FSD after tower closure broke out of 400 foot ceiling to discover a vehicle on the runway and went around. The vehicle driver was admonished by the ZMP Controller and the second approach successful.

Narrative: On approach to Runway 03 at FSD we were kept a bit higher than we would have liked; but aircraft was cleared; configured and stable for the entire approach. We had the current weather conditions from AWOS; as the Tower was closed and Center was controlling us. Weather was 400 foot ceiling with 1 mile visibility. Braking action was unknown at that current time. Neither of us had been to FSD in at least a year and had more than a bit of concern with landing at a strange airport in snow; LIFR; with a closed Tower. We broke out of the clouds around 400 FT as expected but the Captain called out a vehicle of some sort about three quarters of the way down the runway. I saw it's yellow flashing safety light as well and we initiated a go around at that time. While being vectored around for a second approach the Center Controller told us that he should have been informed by the airport when snow plowing or vehicles would be on the active runway. Apparently the snow plow had called clear to the Controller but had returned to the runway to spread more sand and thought he could finish before we called for our arrival. We completed our approach to a landing the second time with no other unusual events. After blocking in the Captain informed me that he thought he had missed making the 'recommended' call on CTAF after we were switched over from Center.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	867853
Time
Date	200912
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	FSD.Airport
State Reference	SD
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Total 14000
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 12000
Events
Anomaly	Conflict Ground Conflict Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Ground Incursion Runway
Miss Distance	Horizontal 4000 Vertical 200

Air carrier flight crew landing at fsd after tower closure broke out of 400 foot ceiling to discover a vehicle on the runway and went around. The vehicle driver was admonished by the ZMP controller and the second approach successful.