Bubbers,
Rightly or wrongly, visual approaches are a fast dying art in the long-haul world. It's an area where international airlines of all descriptions need to provide better training. Long haul pilots only fly 3-4 sectors a month (if they're lucky) and simply don't get the opportunity to do visual approaches on a regular basis.
It's very different for you, flogging around in your 737 or MD80 all day, every day, as it were. Even those of us that came from a background where visual approaches were the norm find it hard to stay up to speed after moving to long haul. I can only imagine what it must be like for the poor sods that come through airline cadet programs and never get a chance to develop some of the basic skills you and I take for granted. Unfortunately, that is the way the airline world is moving, and piloting skills & standards are declining in some areas.
Like it or not, a visual approach is a significant threat at the end of a 12-14 hour long haul flight, when you're at the back of your body clock, haven't done a landing for several weeks, and haven't done a visual approach for several months, if not longer.
Last edited by BuzzBox; 29th Jul 2013 at 04:56.