Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Total 2600
Confusion; Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting
ATC Issue All Types; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Airport; Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
We started out vectored off our arrival by ZZZ Center to the southwest with several step down altitudes.  30 miles from the airport we found ourselves at 20;000 MSL which is about 10;000 feet higher than usual for a normal descent.  ATC; specifically ZZZ Center; was overloaded with aircraft going into south State X.  The Controller brought us around and eventually around 10;000 MSL he told us to go direct to the ZZZ airport.  At that time; we were about 15-18 miles away at just under 10;000 MSL.  A few minutes later the Controller asked if we had the field in sight to which we replied that we did; but we needed a vector because we were too high to safely attempt the visual approach.  We were given a left 360 degree turn and cleared down to 3;000 MSL also while given direct to the ZZZ airport.  Upon leveling off at 3;000 MSL we were in a cloud layer and couldn't see the field.  We requested lower and were given 1;500 MSL.  Once we reach that altitude; we could see the field and was cleared the visual approach to Runway X and to switch to Tower.On final; after fully configuring the aircraft; Tower told us to turn right to a heading of 180.  Very confused; we asked him to repeat the instructions at which point we executed a missed approach for a disabled aircraft on the runway.  Tower never actually told us to go-around.  We were given heading 180 and a climb to 4;000 MSL.  Following the level off we were instructed to hold present position however the aircraft will not hold present position on HDG mode.  It can only PPOS HOLD while on and active FMS leg with less than .25 NM cross track.  Knowing this; we told the Controller we needed a fix to hold and we were given the ZZZ2 NDB which doesn't exist in the database.  We instead requested the missed approach fix for the RNAV X approach.We weren't sure or told how long the runway was going to be shut down so the crew started to discuss diverting options which ZZZ1 was the only real viable option.  The FMS indicated it would take about 3;500 lbs of fuel and we had about 2;300lbs of reserve fuel on board.  From my quick calculation; I had to make a decision fairly soon considering the following:  we had about 5;700lbs on fuel on board; unknown runway closure; time; FMS calculation of 3;500 lbs of fuel required to ZZZ1; high volume of ZZZ Center traffic and high controller work load.  I sent a message to Dispatch informing them we would attempt one more approach and if unable to make it in we would divert to ZZZ1.We notified ZZZ Center Controller we needed to attempt another approach or we would soon have need to divert.  We were given vectors around and cleared for the visual to Runway X once again.  As the pilot flying; I opted to proceed direct to the FAF of the RNAV X and continue the visual approach.  At about the base leg portion I turned off the autopilot and turned towards the runway.  I believe that a slight turn inside of the FAF did not sequence the approach nor the glide path information which led to a position above the glide path.  I flew down to correct the glide path all while in and out of 1;000 FPM VVI.  I acknowledged the momentary deviations of descent and quickly corrected as I was now on the visual indications from the PAPI's.  On short final; a thermal briefly interrupted our descent and with a quick correction back to glide path I corrected the path for a safe landing.I believe the accumulation of all factors above could have led to a critically low fuel situation much quicker than expected.  I believe the saturation of airspace on a very busy travel day could have been underestimated in the current climate of understaffed controllers.  ZZZ Center controllers were so saturated with aircraft that any chance to hand an aircraft off to a visual approach whether it was really safe to do so or not was attempted.  Unsure about divert fuel and runway state created a high-importance; high stress moment of deciding when a divert should occur without having proper data supporting it.  Lastly; in a heightened sense of urgency with a tight turn inbound to the runway and sub-sequence 'Cutting the corner' led to the aircraft being in a position higher than the glide path.I would suggest the following for operations into ZZZ Captain only approach and landing.  I believe most captains take it upon themselves to make the approach and landing due to the short runway as it is.  There should be more 'hip pocket' information whether in the form of a bulletin or some other format that provides rough numbers of divert options; fuel required; routing; etc when a formal alternate is not filed.  I also suggest fuel planning take into account busy travel days and add as much fuel as practical for contingencies even on days with VMC conditions that does not preclude landing due to being over max landing weight.  I also believe during all forms of training (initial; recurrent; etc) special authorization airports and airports such as ZZZ are discussed. It is my suggestion that ZZZ be a mandatory training event.  I can tell you everything you need to know about flying to ZZZ2 yet we don't actually go there in the aircraft.  However; airports such as ZZZ are rarely mentioned when we fly there every week.  I suggest more 'hangar flying' where scenarios are discussed (such as this one) in a classroom/training environment to get captains to start thinking about scenarios such as these.  I'd also like to recommend that one or two approaches from ZZZ3 be included in our Jeppesen charts or company pages.  Should ZZZ be shut down for any reason and there is not enough divert fuel to safely make it back to the mainland there will be a 10;000 foot runway available; especially in IMC conditions.  Lastly; I suggest that pilots refrain from attempting to cut corners while approaching the runway from greater than 90 degrees.  Instead; they should fly the published approach in its entirety including glide slopes or glide paths so that they maintain a safe; stable approach to the runway.
Air carrier Captain reported a disabled aircraft on intended landing runway resulted in their flight being vectored away from their approach path.  The additional vectoring caused them to be concerned with their fuel state and made a request to be cleared as soon as possible.  The crew was cleared for another approach and landing and reported being unstable/high before safely landing the aircraft.