Widebody; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Workload; Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Landing Without Clearance
Flight Crew Landed As Precaution
Human Factors
I was Pilot Flying and upon joining LOC 22L at EWR; we were adequately spaced with normal spacing margins ahead of; and behind; other landing traffic. Sky was clear and as we approached Runway 22L; the Captain was unsuccessfully trying to get a word into Tower frequency for clearance to land. Feeling that the clearance was imminent; we elected to continue the approach. As we were getting very low; and seeing that the runway was clear; the Captain instructed me to land. I agreed as we felt that it was ultimately the safer course of action.In the debrief; we felt that ATC knew our position; as we were properly spaced; and handed off to Tower. Also; in the snap decision to continue; we felt that was safer than initiating a very low go-around. Tower didn't have any issues with the landing after we cleared. We continued to the gate.
First Officer reported being unable to communicate with EWR due to frequency congestion; consequently landing without explicit landing clearance.