A319 flap settings

[jxf63]

A quick question for the knowledgeable among you...

For the last few months I've been doing a weekly commute LGW-AMS on Easyjet, almost always in a 319 and almost always sat in a window seat behind the wing. So I've sat through something like 30-odd approaches and landings and every time (as far as I remember) the flap-lowering sequence is:


extend flaps a bit
wait
extend flaps quite a lot
short wait
extend flaps fully
short wait
land


Coming in to LGW this morning though, it was more like:


extend flaps a bit
wait
land


Any idea why that would have been ?

I assume it's something to do with the weight of the aircraft / outside air temperature , but there seemed to be just as many pax as usual and the wx was nothing special, about 7C and breezy from the south.

We didn't appear to land any faster or harder than usual, or brake any more sharply. In fact, if I'd not been looking out of the window, I wouldn't have noticed any difference...

[Dont Hang Up]

The first stage of flap has the biggest influence on reducing minimum flying speed, particularly as this includes deployment of the leading edge slats.

From that point, the fact that the aircraft was light (plenty of pax but no way to know how much fuel or baggage) and that a stiff crosswind might warrant a few extra knots on the final approach speed may have been enough for a decision to leave the flaps right there.

[Metro man]

There are 4 flap lever positions which give a total of 5 different settings depending upon whether the aircraft is on the ground or in the air.

Normally position 3 or 4 is used for landing but the aircraft is capable of landing with slat (front of the wing) and flap (rear of the wing) failures of various combinations including total failure of either surface to extend.

Possibly you had a flaps 3 landing for the first time as the difference between 3 and full is quite noticeable in terms of extension.

[jxf63]

Thanks for the prompt replies.

I would have asked the captain, but the cockpit door remained firmly closed as we disembarked :(