part of the problem--
if the airport has the capability--auto land if not-'monitored' approach-- which currently means first officer flies the approach-single autopilot and then the captain manually lands-in my estimation-a silly transfer of pilot flying at a moment that might not be the best-and since the autopilot has been flying the approach-the captain must disconnect and suddenly become one with the aircraft and take it the rest of the way in. where, in my humble opinion and experience, i find that i am more in tune with the control pressures needed to keep the beast lined up with the localizer after hand flying a bit-rather than 'come in' at the finale with no warm up on your 'guitar'--
perhaps experience can become an obstacle at times---
when tired and on the last of four back into where the weather comes down unexpectly, another factor that complicates what otherwise should be a simple matter--is the tendency to 'remember' and the need to 'forget' all the different ways that monitored approaches have been defined and flown over the years.
after 6 airlines, all on the 737, my head must swim through all the different procedures, which each airline thought was the gospel at the time-and try to remember the ways things are to be done 'tonight.'
to be totally honest, at times, i have to turn to the right and ask--'what is the procedure this month?'
funny how in the QRH where they state the requirements for certain approaches and the weather conditions that trigger such requirements-yet they omit the very simple yet critical thing of the actual minimums of those specific approaches. and funny how we still do heights in feet but visibilities and everything else in metres.
any old dinosaur will think things were better in the past---
and i will close with a gentle reminder to all the new and young pilots coming up in the right seat--you will be a dinosaur before long and make some of the same complaints that you hear us older pilots make. and we should both be 'gentle' with each other and admit that we have much to learn from each other and we can if we keep talking rather than judging.