Narrative:

We were cleared for the approach on the ILS at [an international destination]. It was a very long final. We intercepted the glide slope at 4;000 AGL and we were told to slow to 160 for traffic. We were light so we only needed flaps five for that speed. We had a very strong headwind at pattern altitude (35 KTS) and a very slow ground speed. The final approach was unusually longer than normal with the slow ground speed and high intercept altitude. As we were flying in and getting closer; we passed the FAF and the captain continued the approach. I made the mistake of assuming that because of the wind he was delaying further configuration changes as we had been on final for some time. About 1;500' AGL; I started getting nervous about the configuration but assumed the captain would call any second. I don't know if he was waiting deliberately or not. But I should have spoken up back at the final approach fix. Anyway; tower called at 1;300' with landing instructions at the same time I was pointing to the landing gear handle. I answered tower with our clearance to land and the relief pilot noticed the gear and said something. I lowered the gear while answering tower; and then lowered final flaps. The gear took longer than I expected to extend and we even got a gear configuration warning for one to three seconds. The airplane was on speed and stable at 700 feet and we were now at 95 KTS groundspeed due the strong headwinds; it still seemed like a long time till we landed. In retrospect; we should have unequivocally gone around at 1;000'. I never felt unsafe; but 1;000' is the limit. As a lesson learned; I will not assume a captain's actions any longer and will ensure that when I have I concern; that I raise it immediately. And I will pay more attention to the 1;000' limit.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B767-300 International Flight Crew flew below 1;000 feet AGL before fully configuring aircraft for landing.

Narrative: We were cleared for the approach on the ILS at [an international destination]. It was a very long final. We intercepted the glide slope at 4;000 AGL and we were told to slow to 160 for traffic. We were light so we only needed flaps five for that speed. We had a very strong headwind at pattern altitude (35 KTS) and a very slow ground speed. The final approach was unusually longer than normal with the slow ground speed and high intercept altitude. As we were flying in and getting closer; we passed the FAF and the Captain continued the approach. I made the mistake of assuming that because of the wind he was delaying further configuration changes as we had been on final for some time. About 1;500' AGL; I started getting nervous about the configuration but assumed the Captain would call any second. I don't know if he was waiting deliberately or not. But I should have spoken up back at the final approach fix. Anyway; Tower called at 1;300' with landing instructions at the same time I was pointing to the landing gear handle. I answered Tower with our clearance to land and the Relief Pilot noticed the gear and said something. I lowered the gear while answering Tower; and then lowered final flaps. The gear took longer than I expected to extend and we even got a gear configuration warning for one to three seconds. The airplane was on speed and stable at 700 feet and we were now at 95 KTS groundspeed due the strong headwinds; it still seemed like a long time till we landed. In retrospect; we should have unequivocally gone around at 1;000'. I never felt unsafe; but 1;000' is the limit. As a lesson learned; I will not assume a Captain's actions any longer and will ensure that when I have I concern; that I raise it immediately. And I will pay more attention to the 1;000' limit.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.