Just Like A Glider

By Steven Rhule

A bumpy ride in a B737-900 across central PA sliding down from FL 330 with a 110 knot tailwind and several crossing restrictions to be made. Liberal use of the spoilers keeps the jet on the computer-controlled glide path. Through the clouds the anti-ice is on warming the engine inlets until we break out of the clag at 8000'. The bright lights of Manhattan and Staten Island are a familiar and welcome sight.

 I check the TCAS display to see where ATC will fit us into the long line of aluminum elephants lumbering into 4R at Newark International. I take a guess and roll the speed command to 210K so ATC can turn us without overshooting into the lineup. Gusty surface winds and our landing weight push our target speed on final to 155K. I call for the approach check, click off the autopilot and hand fly the last 10 miles to get into the jerky pulsing rhythm of the mechanical turbulence.

There's quite a bit of wing rocking and I try not to aggravate it by fighting it with the ailerons. A few small applications are enough to keep the beast fairly level. We are crabbed about 10 degrees left into the crosswind. When ATC calls for us to slow I request Flaps 1 and the leading edge slaps/flaps and the trailing edge flaps move into position. More speed reductions and the flaps are moved to 5 degrees and  then 10 as we close on the traffic in front of us.  At 5 miles to go, I call "Gear down, flaps 15, landing check." I arm the speedbrakes and recheck the auto brakes set to level 1. The FO runs the checklist and additional calls are made for “Flaps 25, flaps 30 and speed to target, set missed approach altitude”.  We are in the slot at 1000' AGL.

Small power changes keep the fluctuating airspeed in the desired range. At 35' I start feeding in some right rudder pressure to align the fuselage with the runway and add some left aileron to keep the airplane from turning right. Because of the wingsweep angle a slight increase in sink rate occurs due to a loss of lift and I opt to reduce it with a pitch change rather than thrust.

We are slightly left wing down and the left gear touches down first, rolling on in a very satisfying manner. When the wheels spin up the auto spoilers deploy and the right wing starts to sink too quickly. More left aileron slows the sinking sensation and the right main kisses the asphalt ever so gently. The power comes to idle and I fly the nose wheel to the ground. Reverse thrust is selected and we slow so to make the second high speed exit.

"Except for a few extra bells and whistles, it's just like the glider", is my thought as I call for the after landing checklist.