Narrative:

ATIS reported winds 280/16. We were properly configured and on speed and glide about 2;000 feet AGL. I was hand flying the visual approach to runway 30 in ZZZ. No ILS was available. I was following the locilizer (localizer approach) and using the VASI. The autothrottles were moving rapidly forward and aft; so I clicked them off. During the landing flare; we noticed gusty conditions. Tower never gave us a wind report; which would have advised us of gusts. Per company policy we bugged ref speed plus 5 knots. Had we known about gusts we would have added much more speed; per company policy. At about 300 feet (not long after I clicked off the autothrottles) I got a 10 knot increase in speed; I called out 'correcting' and began slowly pulling power back. During the flare; captain called out 'right on bug' as I was on ref speed. When we touched down; we were at ref speed. In the flare; as we were landing; the back end of the plane suddenly sank down as we hit another gust. Before we had time to add more power; the mains touched down hard. After we parked the plane; both pilots performed an inspection; and found no damage to tail; (no tail strike); wing; (no wing strike) or any damage whatsoever to the outside of the aircraft. Also; the lead flight attendant told us she was fine; and that no baggage or over head bins dislodged; and no O2 masks came down during the landing. The psu unit in the back of the plane had a small corner piece hanging; and the cabinets in one of the aft lav's opened up. That was the only evidence of a hard landing event. No passenger requested any medical help. After the passenger's got off the plane; I looked up [local] weather reports; and it showed winds reporting 300/18g25. We could have asked for a wind check. The gusts were reported to start later; but the wind gusts were a factor. We could have asked what the winds were. Adding another 5 knots or so would have made all the difference.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD83 flight crew reports a hard landing. The winds were reported as steady at 18 knots and were in fact gusting to 25; which may have contributed to the incident.

Narrative: ATIS reported winds 280/16. We were properly configured and on speed and glide about 2;000 feet AGL. I was hand flying the visual approach to Runway 30 in ZZZ. No ILS was available. I was following the Locilizer (LOC approach) and using the VASI. The autothrottles were moving rapidly forward and aft; so I clicked them off. During the landing flare; we noticed gusty conditions. Tower never gave us a wind report; which would have advised us of gusts. Per company policy we bugged ref speed plus 5 knots. Had we known about gusts we would have added much more speed; per company policy. At about 300 feet (not long after I clicked off the autothrottles) I got a 10 knot increase in speed; I called out 'correcting' and began slowly pulling power back. During the flare; Captain called out 'right on bug' as I was on ref speed. When we touched down; we were at ref speed. In the flare; as we were landing; the back end of the plane suddenly sank down as we hit another gust. Before we had time to add more power; the mains touched down hard. After we parked the plane; both pilots performed an inspection; and found no damage to tail; (no tail strike); wing; (no wing strike) or any damage whatsoever to the outside of the aircraft. Also; the lead Flight Attendant told us she was fine; and that no baggage or over head bins dislodged; and no O2 masks came down during the landing. The PSU unit in the back of the plane had a small corner piece hanging; and the cabinets in one of the aft lav's opened up. That was the only evidence of a hard landing event. No passenger requested any medical help. After the passenger's got off the plane; I looked up [local] weather reports; and it showed winds reporting 300/18G25. We could have asked for a wind check. The gusts were reported to start later; but the wind gusts were a factor. We could have asked what the winds were. Adding another 5 knots or so would have made all the difference.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.