Originally Posted by
rickair7777
We rarely do anything other than a straight-in precision or visual approach. Where do I get the opportunity to practice? MS Flight Sim? The company would be pretty bent if I started wasting time and gas to do full approaches for practice.
Could I do it in a pinch? Sure. But it might be prudent to take a pass if you have the option and there enough factors going against you.
It's just the reality of the flying we do, which is all different from the kind of flying you do.
In some cases, doing a full approach is more efficient than being vectored onto an approach. It depends on the situation. Also, starting a non-precision approach can be just enough to get you below a cloud base, sometimes, which can be useful for getting a contact approach, without being vectored around onto a precision approach. I guess you guys just don't operate that way, and will take the vectors in almost all cases. I'm not bashing you for this. It's just the way you guys operate. News to me.