Originally Posted by
Duesenflieger
Horizon also operates predominately in a region of the United States in which mountainous terrain is prevalent, yes? Perhaps it feels the need based off safety data that aircraft being established on an IAP before acceptance of a visual will mitigate the risks associated with visuals at night. It is actually a good idea in mountainous terrain to do so.... There are all kinds of visual and vestibular illusions which have caused accidents in aviation history.
It's always good practice to use all available resources at all times for redundancy and increased situational awareness. Especially at night. However. When it's clear and a million during daytime operations it's good to disconnect that AutoPilot and FD and use some hand flying and visual descent planning to keep the skills rust free. I love that the majority of My colleagues here turn off the auto pilot/FD for the majority of visual approaches. Some runways don't have glideslopes. And sometimes the glide slope is out of service. And sometimes you could be using the glideslope as a visual reference and it could go out of service. But always always have the pilot monitoring load an approach for redundancy. Don't want to land at the wrong airport. Not that that would ever happen...... when in doubt. Go around. We get paid by the minute.