Hello,What distance should you be from the airport threshold when going to flaps 30/40 on final for the 737 700/800/900????Should it be the outer or middle marker?? How many miles out??Thanks..............Iain

Hi - Out of all the people who have read this mail - surely there is someone who can answer my question - Please...............Iain

I remember seeing somewhere that at 6 miles you should lower the gear and set flaps 15. Then make sure your set to land per autobrake, spoiler armed, ect...So basically, I assume you should be slowing and continuing to set flaps for landing, all completed by 3 miles or so. Just my guessChris

>I remember seeing somewhere that at 6 miles you should lower>the gear and set flaps 15. Then make sure your set to land>per autobrake, spoiler armed, ect...>>So basically, I assume you should be slowing and continuing to>set flaps for landing, all completed by 3 miles or so. Just>my guessPretty good guess... generally speaking the gear goes down at the outer marker along with flaps 30/40. At my company the flt. manual says that you should be in landing configuration crossing the final approach fix (OM), although there is an alternate way of doing things... must be stabilized in landing config by 1000 ft AGL, bottom line. That allows me a bit of leeway in setting the final flap config, which is a good thing, since throwing out flaps 40 at the OM creates a tremendous amount of drag and thus needs lots of power (and noise!) to get to the runway. What I do on a visual approach is set flaps 25 or 30 at the OM, then at 1,000 ft AGL I call for flaps 40. Less drag, noise, power, fuel burn.John B-737 FO

Thank you for your help - appreciate your time and very helpful answers................Iain

Hi All,By the time you reach 1000 feet AGL Radio Altitute (ie 1000 ft above the rwy) you should be fully configured for landing.gear down, proper flap are set, spoilers armed, autobrakes set etc.Hope this helps.Cheers Musashi

>By the time you reach 1000 feet AGL Radio Altitute (ie 1000 ft>above the rwy) you should be fully configured for landing.>Well, I would say it depends on MS AI traffic.If there's an AI aircraft trying to land right in front of you then I would keep flaps and gear up and speed 250 KTS until you reach 1000 feet alt. Then gear down and full flaps.:-lol No, just kiddin'.CheersThomas

>If there's an AI aircraft trying to land right in front of you>then I would keep flaps and gear up and speed 250 KTS until>you reach 1000 feet alt. Then gear down and full flaps.:-lol Oh yea, and use full spoilers to slow down! :-lol

I'm not a real-world airline pilot, so I can't speak of real-world procedures or company SOPs, but as a VATSIM approach controller, I can say that you will often get minimum speed instructions to maintain until the FAF/OM. (Final Approach Fix/Outer Marker)If it's busy, and you've got another aircraft trailing you on the localizer, ATC might ask you to maintain 190 knots or greater (for example) until the OM. So obviously, you wouldn't want to be in full landing configuration yet. Once you get to the OM, your speed minimum is cancelled, and you can dump out all the flaps and slow to final approach speed.Because of this, when I fly, I generally set 15 degrees flaps and slow to 180 knots (or ATC-given speed, whichever is greater) by the time I intercept the localizer, then I stay at that speed until the FAF/OM if required by ATC, and add flaps as I'm able to per flaps speed restrictions. When I pass the FAF/OM, I go to full flaps, gear down, and final approach speed.Again, not sure how realistic my procedures are ... this is just what works for me when flying on VATSIM.

"ATC might ask you to maintain 190 knots or greater (for example) until the OM" SPEED BIRD "oh .... Unable" LOL. [h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smithhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/betaimg.jpgAMD 64 3200+ | ASUS KV8 DELUXE | GFORCE 5700 ULTRA @535/1000 | WD SATA 80 GIG | 512 DDR 400 |

Haha .... "Speedbird 123, maintain Mach 1 or greater to the outer marker for spacing" :-lol