Proper 747-200 Landing Procedures

[Colin S]

I'm on vacation in Hawaii, and we went for a walk along the coastline (no beach, just coastline). Beautiful... then we saw a 747 coming in to land at PHKO (Kona @ Keahole). This wasn't too strange, other than they were still at about 4000 feet and they already had their gear down. When are you supposed to put down the gear when landing one of those older beasts? We thought it was a little odd, and it also had a crap ton of flare coming in.

 

It was a Kalitta Air plane, whatever that is.

[Cameron]

This is primarily at the discretion of the crew and the current flight configuration they are in. Some like to come in high, some low, and so long as you're within valid speed ranges then gear may be deployed as a mechanism for drag.

[Colin S]

Alright, thanks!