Narrative:

As the flight was slowing and configuring for the landing; the crew (double augmented) was attempting to utilize the new SOP guidance of not selecting a MCP airspeed in the MCP window that is below the actual minimum flap maneuvering speed for the flaps selected at that time. The captain was the pilot flying and the first officer the pilot not flying as the aircraft approached the FAF with flaps 5 and the speed set to 180 KTS. The captain called for; 'gear down; landing checklist.' with the gear coming down; the captain then called for; 'flaps 15; speed.' the first officer set the new flap setting and adjusted the MCP speed to the flap 15 minimum maneuvering value. By the time he had the speed set; the captain was calling for; 'flaps 20; speed.' setting the flaps to 20 and resetting the MCP speed to flaps 20 minimum maneuvering; the aircraft was approaching 1;000 ft AGL and the captain asked for; 'flaps 25; set target speed.' then came the 1;000 ft call with the captain asking for the missed approach altitude of 2;000 ft to be set as the tower was clearing the flight to land. The first officer was doing his best to keep up with the steady stream of configuration requests coming from the captain and was lucky to get a word in to the tower for landing clearance after crossing the FAF. But in the flurry of activity; no one on the flight deck ever realized that the first officer had failed to pull up and complete the landing checklist until the aircraft was at the gate; and when attempting to pull up the parking checklist; the uncompleted landing checklist came up instead. That's when all four of us realized our mistake. I would suggest that as important as it is for the airplane to never be slower than the minimum flap maneuvering speed actually set; especially during the final five miles to the runway; while final flap configurations are being made; is no place to demand this exact letter of detail for SOP compliance because doing so results in the crew's being overloaded or task-saturated to the point that it fails to complete other required checklist items or receive landing clearance; rendering this particular SOP compliance issue counterproductive. When the captain was ready to begin final aircraft slowing and configurations for landing; if he had called for; 'flaps 15; set target airspeed; gear down; landing checklist;' the first officer would have had plenty of time to accomplish all items; set the speed window once (not three separate times); call the tower and complete the checklist; and this report would not be necessary. Please allow the crews the latitude to set the target speed for landing as soon as the final configurations are being done without the incremental speed setting of the MCP that the 'new' SOP seems to dictate.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A crew reported task saturation and failure to complete the landing checklist when they complied with a revised approach procedure requiring that as each flap setting is selected the corresponding maneuvering speed be set on the MCP.

Narrative: As the flight was slowing and configuring for the landing; the crew (double augmented) was attempting to utilize the new SOP guidance of not selecting a MCP airspeed in the MCP window that is below the actual minimum flap maneuvering speed for the flaps selected at that time. The Captain was the pilot flying and the First Officer the pilot not flying as the aircraft approached the FAF with flaps 5 and the speed set to 180 KTS. The Captain called for; 'Gear down; landing checklist.' With the gear coming down; the Captain then called for; 'Flaps 15; speed.' The First Officer set the new flap setting and adjusted the MCP speed to the flap 15 minimum maneuvering value. By the time he had the speed set; the Captain was calling for; 'Flaps 20; speed.' Setting the flaps to 20 and resetting the MCP speed to flaps 20 minimum maneuvering; the aircraft was approaching 1;000 FT AGL and the captain asked for; 'Flaps 25; set target speed.' Then came the 1;000 FT call with the Captain asking for the missed approach altitude of 2;000 FT to be set as the Tower was clearing the flight to land. The First Officer was doing his best to keep up with the steady stream of configuration requests coming from the Captain and was lucky to get a word in to the tower for landing clearance after crossing the FAF. But in the flurry of activity; no one on the flight deck ever realized that the First Officer had failed to pull up and complete the landing checklist until the aircraft was at the gate; and when attempting to pull up the parking checklist; the uncompleted landing checklist came up instead. That's when all four of us realized our mistake. I would suggest that as important as it is for the airplane to never be slower than the minimum flap maneuvering speed actually set; especially during the final five miles to the runway; while final flap configurations are being made; is no place to demand this exact letter of detail for SOP compliance because doing so results in the crew's being overloaded or task-saturated to the point that it fails to complete other required checklist items or receive landing clearance; rendering this particular SOP compliance issue counterproductive. When the Captain was ready to begin final aircraft slowing and configurations for landing; if he had called for; 'Flaps 15; set target airspeed; gear down; landing checklist;' the First Officer would have had plenty of time to accomplish all items; set the speed window once (NOT three separate times); call the Tower and complete the checklist; and this report would not be necessary. Please allow the crews the latitude to set the target speed for landing as soon as the final configurations are being done without the incremental speed setting of the MCP that the 'new' SOP seems to dictate.

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.