Various controllers often assume that every pilot has done these maneuvers-and that there is no first time. We rarely go into MDW and our company uses the higher of 1,000' or circling minimums. In training and simulators, we can not do real circling approaches, and MDW have only seen 31C circle to 22L.
Just a question, did anyone have time to set in the localizer frequency for 13C, or is there one? If it was set in, did anybody verify that the localizer needle was in the middle of the HSI etc? Pilots in 'glass c0ckp1ts' rarely select the VOR mode.
As a contrast, coming into DFW on a clear night, which has many parallel runways, the localizer is the ONLY thing, assuming that you look at your CDI, which will keep you from lining up with the wrong runway unless the controller catches it. Many of the runways have PAPI lights