Narrative:

We flew the RNAV Y runway 20 to guatemala city. The weather was right above minimums. We briefed the approach thoroughly; including possible go around; diversion; and landing analysis (both wet and dry). We also noted the company notes regarding the use of visual references when descending below mins. Upon check in with the tower; they reported that there was a light rain falling; so we switched to maximum braking. We broke out at about 100 ft. Above minimums; and saw the approach lights and the runway environment. The approach lighting was turned up to high and was somewhat disorienting. I noticed the PAPI were all red. I alerted the captain to this by saying 'you're low'. The captain later mentioned that the bright lights made it so he couldn't see the HUD very well. I also glanced at his pfd and he was right on the RNAV glide path. As we came over the approach end and the lights disappeared; the darkness of the runway was again disorienting (there are no centerline or touchdown lights in the runway. The only lighting is the runway edge lights); which made it hard to judge the height above the ground. We touched down very firm and both felt startled because I don't think either of us saw the firm landing coming. Weather at mins; low visibility; approach lights on high; glare on the HUD; lack of runway lighting and a down-sloping runway with a cliff at the end all contributed to the firm landing. Check the intensity of the approach lighting system with tower; turn the HUD brightness up higher; and perhaps anticipated the down-sloping runway better.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 First Officer reported firm landing.

Narrative: We flew the RNAV Y Runway 20 to Guatemala City. The weather was right above minimums. We briefed the approach thoroughly; including possible go around; diversion; and landing analysis (both wet and dry). We also noted the company notes regarding the use of visual references when descending below mins. Upon check in with the Tower; they reported that there was a light rain falling; so we switched to MAX braking. We broke out at about 100 ft. above minimums; and saw the approach lights and the runway environment. The approach lighting was turned up to high and was somewhat disorienting. I noticed the PAPI were all red. I alerted the Captain to this by saying 'You're low'. The Captain later mentioned that the bright lights made it so he couldn't see the HUD very well. I also glanced at his PFD and he was right on the RNAV glide path. As we came over the approach end and the lights disappeared; the darkness of the runway was again disorienting (there are no centerline or touchdown lights in the runway. The only lighting is the runway edge lights); which made it hard to judge the height above the ground. We touched down very firm and both felt startled because I don't think either of us saw the firm landing coming. Weather at mins; low visibility; approach lights on high; glare on the HUD; lack of runway lighting and a down-sloping runway with a cliff at the end all contributed to the firm landing. Check the intensity of the approach lighting system with Tower; turn the HUD brightness up higher; and perhaps anticipated the down-sloping runway better.

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.