Yossarian wrote:
Saturday was my first night IFR cross country. I was flying right seat in
a 172SP with an instructor on the left. The flight was from KHHR Hawthorne
CA to Bermuda Dunes. All was well and as expected until Palm Springs
approach. They vectored us to a point south of the VOR-C approach approx 4
miles from the VOR at 4000. We were not established on the final approach
course. Then I got "cleared for the visual".

Airport elevation is 73', meaning that a ridiculous descent of 1150 ft/min
at 90 kts would have been required to get to the MDA of 920 at the MAP if
we had been flying the VOR-C.

What was I expected to do here?

Navigate to the airport visually and land. The required descent rate
really doesn't matter much on a visual. You're free to maneuver as
necessary to manage the descent (S-turns, spiral down, whatever).

If you felt you could not do that (i.e. could not remain visual), you
should refuse the clearance, "unable visual approach".

I have an instrument rating but only 150 hours so I don't have much
experience. I expect an instrument approach, even a visual, to
allow me to make a landing using a normal descent rate and not have
to make laps in the pattern to descend.

No such requirement on a visual.

What happens if you refuse a visual approach?

They give you another approach. Typically, you would indicate which
approach you wanted when you turned down the visual.