With all due respect we are pilots. A night visual approach is a procedure which all pilots should be able to accomplish. Keep the autopilot and autothrottle coupled until turning finals. A VNAV profile giving you a virtual glideslope can be constructed, and on right base at Kansai you always have the airport and runway lights in sight. A heavy aircraft such as a B747-400 is no different to any other aircraft from a flight deck perspective, just remember the inertia and momentum of the aircraft that's all. What's the big fuss about, I am no way an ace of the base but come on guys a night visual circuit when correctly briefed and with raw data back up is no big deal, just fly the aircraft. My criticism is why did this KAL captain allow himself to descend to 300 feet on base leg whilst still over the sea. It is not the fault of the procedure being too complicated it is a fault of lack of any kind of situational awareness. To then freeze on the controls when he realised his predicament is gross negligence. That is my beef, then to do it again in the simulator, and still be released to the line is criminal. Do you want yourself or your family to be his passenger, that is what you have to ask yourself.
Guys we're pilots flying sophisticated aircraft which we can make to sit up and beg, due to the wealth of information available.
I agree in the states it is a different ballgame, cleared for a visual approach and cleared to land removes the rquirement on ATC to be responsible for traffic seperation; something to be very cautious about but a different topic.