A few things for the record.
Ryanair is very big on constant descent approaches (CDA). If I don't do a CDA (even if its to comply with ATC) I get a letter from my chief pilot asking me to explain why I did not do a CDA. The letter will normally refer to a flight about 3 months previously. These letters put undue pressure on some pilots. To avoid this hassle some pilots delay may their desent in order to ensure a CDA. This often is the beginning of a high energy approach.
Most of the airfields we fly to are small and have no ATIS. We have been told not to contact the tower above 5000ft to avoid blocking freqs.. We do not have a data link. Essentially we are guessing the R/W in use and hoping the weather has not changed from the forcast. If things change we can of course go to the hold and set up and brief. However the temptation is to continue. Again this can be another factor in a rushed approach. Easy and many other airlines in Europe with a real interest in safety carry this equipement.
Last week I did a 11.30 duty, followed by 11.30 duty, followed by 10.30 duty and then 2 shorter 9 hour duty days. The first 3 days were like being asked to fly to new York, go to bed, get up in the morning go back to Europe, bed, and then back to New York. The main differance is that I had to do 4 approaches, landings, tunarounds and take offs a day. The long haul pilot has to do one of each a day. Still it is within FTL's so I was not legally tired.
In the last month I have only flown with 2 F/O's with more than 500 hours experiance. When things are busy most are understandably not quite up to speed. Now if I'm tired and things start to go wrong again the ingrediants are there for a rushed approach.
There are reasons behind Ryanairs high energy approaches, I have given a few. A professional organisation would pick up this trend and analyse the reasons behind these approaches. They would alter SOP's and training and certainly stop sending harrassing letters to captains. Not Ryanair, out with the big stick, well its cheaper.