What exactly happened in this situation?

I just read an article about an incident in the airport in my city. Weather was bad(heavy rains and winds) at the time of final approach, and they started descending towards the airport. A passenger said it was really scary as the aircraft seemed to be rapidly descending than usual during the final approach, and they were scared about a possible crash from the way they were descending. During the short final, they got an announcement from the cockpit informing them that they had to abort landing because the aircraft apparently "hit an air packet" and they're going for a go-around. When they were rapidly descending, did the pilots stay on the control, or just use autopilot? What were the possible radio communications between the ATC and the pilots when this happened? After lifting off, when do they engage autopilot, and at what situations do they disengage it and take the controls manually?(I know A/P is disengaged during the flare, but other than that?) I'm just being curious, that's all. Thanks a lot in advance.