Cyclic, thanks for the information -I don't think we had covered this before. The radar may be acceptable for holding large contacts ie rigs and supertankers down to .25nm but what about smaller vessels and structures like winds farms and masts? To successfully let down to a target IMC within a limited area, you need to manoeuvre well below 500', we use 200', so that the Trans down doesn't take too much room. We have more flexibility because we can clear turns during our TD, whereas with a forward only looking radar you would be turning into an uncleared area.
Frankly in IMC over the water I would take a well trained Radop over a co-pilot anyday.
Is it possible to get sight of the Ops manual/SOPs?