CRISIDERBRIAN,
for a category C airplane, and the B737 is one, (Vref between 121 - 140 kts), the circling minima are 600 ft and 2400m visibility.
These figures may be increased by the authorities in certain places due to various factors ( high terrain...), or by the company, when management doesn't trust their pilots
because they know they are incapable dangerous ****!
In my present company the minima are at least 1000-4000.
They think if I don't know what I'm doing, some extra clearance might save my a§§.
That's a shame: instead of
training their pilots to be real pilots, they increase the minima in the hope to avoid troubles.
Needless to say, you'll end up having to do a circling at 1000ft at night, under the rain, with some wind, with people
improvising and saving the day by just a hair!
The key to this issue is
TRAINING and having people who
know how to do it safely.
When you know how to do it, it's a piece of cake, even at 600ft, if that's the legal minima.
Sadly (and dangerously) those who are
used to fly the easy touristic scenario, will apply the same technique at 600ft than they would apply at 1500ft!
So they find themselves in downiwnd, at low altitude, still with the gear up and all the checks to be done.
They continue to use the same silly rules of extending passing abeam threshold and rubbish like that...
The result?
The PNF will finish reading the Landing cklist at 20 feet on final, after a nightmare scenario has been just saved by pure luck!
LEM
