flap deployment

[mattymito]

recentley flew on a airbus a321 by thomas cook east midlands to fuerteventura

we were nearing the end of our flight.. crew were seated and every thing/body locked down

i noticed no flaps were deployed at this point thought this was weired being so late before landing

the aircraft became very slow over the ground and suddenly there was a jolt in the back as the engines came to life and we gained speed
at this point the flaps were then selected but we landed about 15seconds later

is this normal?

[Dont Hang Up]

is this normal?


No - not if it happened exactly as you described. But the view out of the side window can be very deceptive.

I am sure that there will soon be professional pilots on here questioning the accuracy of your observations rather than believing the flight crew had screwed up on at least three points on the checklists. The reasons:

1.

i noticed no flaps were deployed at this point thought this was weired being so late before landing...the aircraft became very slow over the ground
Anywhere near final approach speed and maintaing the glideslope with no flaps deployed would have the aircraft in a very unnatural nose up orientation even if it wasn't actually stalled.

2.

there was a jolt in the back as the engines came to life and we gained speed Even selecting "go around" power does not create anything resembling a "jolt" because the engines take seconds to spool up.

3.

at this point the flaps were then selected but we landed about 15 seconds
later
The approach normally has to be stable for the last 1000 feet of flight to attempt a landing. Selecting flaps and gaining speed so late and then landing would never be contemplated.

The more polite of the pro's may offer some ideas on what you really observed.

My theory for what it's worth:

A power-off decent to quite a late (but safe) stage in the approach due to no ATC restrictions and good visibility. (Low altitudes can be very difficult to judge by eye when you have been up at 35000 ft or more - assuming a slow speed may just mean you were higher than you thought.)

Gear (jolt) and flaps deployed. Engines spool up to compensate for the extra drag; General increase in noise interpreted as an increase in speed.

Normal landing something more than 15 seconds after those flaps deployed.

[AndoniP]

sounds like the aircraft was subject to headwinds on finals, and when that headwind eased up they had to apply power?

[Doug E Style]

I consider myself to be polite but I have difficulty believing this happened as described. 15 seconds to landing? That's about half a mile from/150 feet above the runway. No way.