"A 'quick'alignment takes 3mins on a station stop."
Thanks, but... shouldn't it only take a few seconds? (i.e. time enough for you to enter a new position...if you wish to do so).
You can of course put the selector from NAV to ALIGN after arriving at your destination and leave it there as long as you want... After a few minutes, the IRS's will assume that you are making a full alignment.. and start refining their alignment.
The above was not really my concern however. I needed to know if you can switch your IRS's from OFF directly to NAV, then do a quick NAV-ALIGN-NAV movement of the selectors to get the IRS's into full operating NAV mode (in say 30 seconds, rather than 10~17 minutes) and start moving the aircraft immediately(With your destination not being on the other side of a large body of water). I don't believe you can, but I just needed a professional/expert second opinion. Many airline manuals mention this NAV-ALIGN-NAV movement, but I haven't yet come across one that says you have to be in _full_ NAV mode before you do this.
Thanks!
Cheers.
Q.