Captain of an widebody transport elected to not go around after GPWS warning of high sink rate.

Attributes
ACN	288376
Time
Date	199411
Day	Sun
Local Time Of Day	1201 To 1800
Place
Locale Reference	airport : den
State Reference	CO
Altitude	agl bound lower : 100 agl bound upper : 100
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	tower : den
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Navigation In Use	Other
Flight Phase	descent : approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : instrument pilot : flight engineer pilot : cfi pilot : atp
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 120 flight time total : 20000 flight time type : 350
ASRS Report	288376
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : first officer
Qualification	pilot : commercial pilot : instrument
Events
Anomaly	non adherence other other anomaly other
Independent Detector	aircraft equipment other aircraft equipment : unspecified other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	other
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Aircraft
Air Traffic Incident	other

Narrative:

High gross weight tailwind landing at high altitude airport caused GPWS 'sink rate' warning at 100 ft above touchdown, on glide path, slightly above target speed, elected to land rather than go around. Sink rate at warning callout was 1000 FPM. The GPWS parameters are too restrictive for this situation. A go around would not have been prudent just to satisfy an unthinking box.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CAPT OF AN WDB ELECTED TO NOT GAR AFTER GPWS WARNING OF HIGH SINK RATE.

Narrative: HIGH GROSS WT TAILWIND LNDG AT HIGH ALT ARPT CAUSED GPWS 'SINK RATE' WARNING AT 100 FT ABOVE TOUCHDOWN, ON GLIDE PATH, SLIGHTLY ABOVE TARGET SPD, ELECTED TO LAND RATHER THAN GAR. SINK RATE AT WARNING CALLOUT WAS 1000 FPM. THE GPWS PARAMETERS ARE TOO RESTRICTIVE FOR THIS SIT. A GAR WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN PRUDENT JUST TO SATISFY AN UNTHINKING BOX.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.