Regional Jet 200 ER/LR (CRJ200)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach
Flight Crew Landed As Precaution
Human Factors; Procedure
We were cleared to 6000 feet [on the] Visual; routing only XXL. We were then told the ILS just went out to expect a visual approach. At ZZZZZ were told to contact tower; which we thought was a bit early but headed over there anyway. The frequency was very congested and took several minutes for a break in transmissions for us to check-in. Tower asked if we were told to contact them. We responded 'yes; approach told us to contact tower'. Tower responded with 'ah; ok; cleared to land'. It seemed as though approach control sent us to tower early and tower was surprised we were there. We were very high so I disconnected the autopilot and slowed to configure the aircraft. The descent rate required was going to be steeper than normal but I still felt we would be stable by 1000 feet. In the descent; tower cleared a heavy 777 onto XXL and instructed them to line up and wait. They then told us to slow to final approach speed. We fully configured and slowed to final speed. At this point tower cleared the heavy 777 for takeoff and issued us a wake turbulence advisory. We were on speed and configured at 1000 feet; however; I believe our descent rate went above 1000 fpm momentarily. As I considered going around the 777 was rotating and we were very close in trail. I felt a go around into his wake would cause a serious threat due to our close proximity. I elected to continue to land. As we crossed the threshold we encountered the heavy 777's jet blast. A normal landing was made within the touchdown zone; but we did receive a 'don't sink' aural message.I believe the initial cause was that ATC forgot to forward the handoff to tower or they might have even missed sending us to another approach controller which left us very high. The close spacing to the departing heavy 777 and subsequent jet blast encounter contributed to the 'don't sink' aural message. Knowing what we do now; we should have turned down tower's clearance to land from the higher altitude and gotten sequenced back in line. Once we got in so close to the landing runway; I chose to land rather than fly into the wake turbulence of a departing heavy 777 during the go around maneuver; which we were within 2 miles in trail at a very low altitude. ATC's poor communication during the handoff was an additional factor that should not have happened.
CRJ Captain reported communication breakdown between flight crew and ATC resulted in an improper landing spacing.