IIRC if the new captain for new equipment (or commercial aircraft) passed both simulator and check rides, dispatched for flight as pilot-in-command, a senior administrative pilot stays in the cockpit during the flight as observer only. I didn't know a major airport like San Francisco international airport turn off the ILS at all. Was the PAPI in use at that time?
I wonder if this video has something to do with the disaster?
http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/series/802/air-disasters/141884/bad-attitude