What are the criteria I should know before I make my Vref selection?Must one always land full flaps? Thanks,John Franklin

Hi John,Flap selection is usually decided just before ToD by the crew after considering the landing weight and with the guidance of Company policy.There are several sides to the Flap30/40 argument so might I just suggest you use Flap 30 in a -700 unless you are going somewhere short, you are heavy or it is rather wet. Normally we try and use Flap 30 and are prepared to wear slightly higher landing speeds and subsequent brake wear rather than burn teh extra fuel to drag Flap 40 around and the extra wear on flap tracks etc. However in an -800 (which we don't have in PMDG as yet) Flap 40 is standard.Autolands are almost always at Flap 40 for a few reasosn. Visual Segment is one of them.Flap 15 is for abnormal ops only.. ie Single Engine.Wind correction (INIT/REF page LS R4) to VRef is either 5 knots or half the head wind and all of the gust factor up to a max of +20Brad

In my private pilot training, I learned that less flaps may be used when the winds are very gusty, in order to keep the approach speed a little higher to have more of a buffer if you get a sudden drop in headwind, and to keep the control surfaces a bit more responsive. Obviously, I was learning in small prop planes, but I'm curious if this practice is also used for small turbojets?