passing it on
When I started in the latter part of 80's, we still had a lot of guys who had flown with the real pioneers - both with military aces and line flying pioneers who had started in open cockpits when accidents could be fatal even if no-one had made a mistake.
There was a tradition with the pilots to try to make their flying as efficient and quick as possible. This meant idle descent and short visual whenever possible. Operating in a country with very little traffic at the regional airports, this was easy to accomplish. They were gently pushing the envelope with skills learned from their preceding generation. They passed on this skill to us.
Sometimes we got to show off at big airports, as we had a reputation among the ATC that we will be flexible. There is a true story of AMS ATC asking our plane if they can make 3 mile final. The COP (now Fleet Chief B757) responded: 'MY captain can make any final' and the ATC replied: 'OK, cleared for 2 mile final'. Which they did, with margins to spare.
I got to do a low 360 over the field in MAN, when ATC had cleared a departing BA in front of us. As we landed she commented: 'that was impressive, you don't see that every day!'
And I think this is the core of the problem. We don't get to do this and further more we don't get to pass it on to the next generation. If we always fly ILS and make a 7 mile final, they'll never get to learn how agressive flying can be made safely. I don't mean reckless but close to the limits of the envelope. The young are limited by SOP and aircraft design to flying in the middle of the road.
After serious malfunctions and pulling some breakers on a A320 simulator, we managed to get the plane behave like a Diesel 9 on a normal day. That seems to upset the youth very much - not because they couldn't handle it but because such a big deal was made about the 'loss of protections'.
I know it is a thin line between reckless and safe when you go away from the inherent safety of the SOPs, but there is something to be said about seeing and doing real flying. Our airline has a reputation for safety and I think it was partly based on the airmanship of our pilots, not on superior SOP or strickt following of the FOM.