Narrative:

Visual backed up with ILS 8L. On this leg fuel was a big concern for us. There was a lot of focus on finding the optimum speed/altitude for the best fuel burn; as well as working with dispatch to find suitable diversion points. The concern with fuel carried over on the approach. We were cleared for the visual 8L and given a speed restriction of 210. We were switched to tower and cleared to land. Our fuel situation was very close to being minimum fuel. The approach continued at the 210 speed ATC assigned. Once we reached about a 6 mile final there was still no speed reduction or configuration changes. I knew that if we did not start now we may miss the 1;000 configured. I called out and asked would you like to start configuring? At this moment this broke the fixation; and the configuration began. Approaching the 1;000 feet call I mentioned a go around because we are going to miss the configuration. Due to our fuel situation the captain stated he's using his discretion and continuing. He began to level for 1;000 feet to add flaps 5 to meet the configuration. From there I called the speeds out as we slowed to ensure we met our target airspeed by 500 feet. This was a difficult position because of the fact [that] if we did a go around our fuel situation would have been critical. On the other hand; doing all that work to salvage an approach can be safely fixed by a go around.when parked at the gate we discussed the events to ensure we were on the same page. It was stated that the reason for the late configuration was because of being fixated on the fuel situation. Out of this situation I learned not to focus in on one item because the chances of messing up the surrounding things increases. More focus should have been put into the approach to make sure that went as planned and our fuel situation would have been finished once we landed. Declaring minimum fuel early would have helped. This would have put that worry out of mind and allowed full focus on the approach. I should have spotted the signs of fixation earlier. This would have allowed an earlier configuration question to break the fixation. A go around would have been the best result.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Embraer ERJ-170 First Officer reported a fuel concern and landing after configuring the aircraft late.

Narrative: Visual backed up with ILS 8L. On this leg fuel was a big concern for us. There was a lot of focus on finding the optimum speed/altitude for the best fuel burn; as well as working with Dispatch to find suitable diversion points. The concern with fuel carried over on the approach. We were cleared for the visual 8L and given a speed restriction of 210. We were switched to Tower and cleared to land. Our fuel situation was very close to being minimum fuel. The approach continued at the 210 speed ATC assigned. Once we reached about a 6 mile final there was still no speed reduction or configuration changes. I knew that if we did not start now we may miss the 1;000 configured. I called out and asked would you like to start configuring? At this moment this broke the fixation; and the configuration began. Approaching the 1;000 feet call I mentioned a go around because we are going to miss the configuration. Due to our fuel situation the Captain stated he's using his discretion and continuing. He began to level for 1;000 feet to add flaps 5 to meet the configuration. From there I called the speeds out as we slowed to ensure we met our target airspeed by 500 feet. This was a difficult position because of the fact [that] if we did a go around our fuel situation would have been critical. On the other hand; doing all that work to salvage an approach can be safely fixed by a go around.When parked at the gate we discussed the events to ensure we were on the same page. It was stated that the reason for the late configuration was because of being fixated on the fuel situation. Out of this situation I learned not to focus in on one item because the chances of messing up the surrounding things increases. More focus should have been put into the approach to make sure that went as planned and our fuel situation would have been finished once we landed. Declaring minimum fuel early would have helped. This would have put that worry out of mind and allowed full focus on the approach. I should have spotted the signs of fixation earlier. This would have allowed an earlier configuration question to break the fixation. A go around would have been the best result.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.