Wally, I've browsed over a large amount of that thread, and I see no US pilots or pilots who've actually flown the approach. In fact, I see more panning of the approach by ATCO-types, not pilots.
That approach is flown
EVERY DAY the weather is above VMC and the winds are below 10 knots or favorable to the 28's. Those approaches have been in existence for at least 30 years. They don't ask for anything like what say the
RIVER VISUAL 19 at KDCA does. That approach does require special training to fly. The SFO approach does not. I'll also throw the
ROARING FORK VISUAL 15 at KASE in the mix as well as an example of what a "slam dunk" approach is. That approach
DOES require training because of it having a steep approach path and narrow approach corridor.
I'm sorry, but anyone who says those approaches are "slam dunk" approaches, don't know what that is and haven't flown it. Go listen to the LiveATC recordings and watch FlightRadar24. There were 30 aircraft before the Asiana flight who made that approach without a single problem. You can watch external and internal videos of that approach flown on other 777s and other aircraft all over YouTube if you look. There's never any chopping of the throttle, there's never spoiler deployment, nothing that suggests this to be a "slam dunk" approach.
Bottom line - the crew botched what should've been an uneventful published VMC approach and even the ATPL's on the PPrune thread say as much. No one with 9000+ hours in an airplane should be unable to do the most basic thing in aviation - land a plane in fair weather by hand.