I'm very confused about this. Blackdog says that commercial pilots can't normally see the runway on approach. Why did the Concorde have that mobile drooping nose? I thought that was so the pilots could see the runway.
The concord had the dropping nose to see while taxiing. Sure, it was a bonus on final, giving them a little help spotting a 15,000 foot runway(that's more than a pair of miles you know!), but the real need to see outside of a commercial jet is for taxiing. Do you know how embarassing it is when you get a set of wheels stuck in the mud? It does not go in your work record too warmly. Nothing gets stuck deeper and quicker than an airplane. I've sunk up to the wing in two minutes while trying to power myself out. Don't even bother trying. Just wait for a ground crew and tug.
One suggestion for anyone flying and worried about hijacking.....Fly at night and in the lousiest weather conditions possible. The more crud the better. If you can't see anything, depending entirely on naviagation technologies, hijackers can't find anything to crash into of high value. And from my experience, Middle East pilots couldn't find Newark on the night of a full moon without being given vectors to final, so take comfort in the bad weather. Also lasers ain't much good in the fog, rain, snow, or other crud.