B757-200
Human-Machine Interface
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Weather
On arrival we were given holding at KAPER for the RNAV GPS Runway 10. We descended slowly to avoid area buildups with an anticipated 20 minutes of holding to let down. During the entry turn to parallel we were cleared for the visual approach. We backed up with the RNAV (GPS) Runway 10. We chose to continue the right turn; fly direct to TALOX and continue the approach from there. In the turn we slowed; extended to flaps 1 and were on the VNAV PATH. Spoilers were armed and toggle slid on the Landing Checklist. We avoided heavy rain showers and remained VMC. The autopilot was disconnected to maneuver to avoid weather. Speedbrakes were deployed to slow and get configured in high gusty winds. Tower cleared an aircraft to back taxi and takeoff on Runway 28. We remained clear of weather and traffic and continued a normal visual approach and landing. Workload was high with high gusty winds; turbulence; avoidance of heavy rain showers and oncoming departure traffic. We were fully configured and stable by 1;000 FT. After a normal landing; the pilot not flying could not determine if he had missed the auto-deployment of the spoilers or if we had flown the approach and landing with them deployed. Suggest spoilers on landing check list should not be toggled closed until after gear extension.
We may have landed with the speedbrakes extended. On a complicated approach to MTPP we had just started an outbound turn for a parallel entry to an assigned holding pattern when approach cleared us for a visual approach. While continuing the turn back to the airport we armed the speedbrakes and closed the tab on that Landing Checklist item. Although VNAV path was not an issue; we were experiencing significant turbulence because of strong surface winds (gust 20 KTS) and elected to deploy the speedbrakes to increase our speed margin for our next flap selection. It was at this same time we were noting a rain shower on the final approach course and concluding that our approach would have to be modified to avoid the shower. This; along with managing the out flows from the rain shower; the gusty surface wind conditions; and the delayed takeoff of an aircraft that had back taxied on our runway may have distracted us sufficiently to allow us to; possibly; overlook the speedbrakes being extended. We were; otherwise; fully configured and on speed at 1;000 FT with all checklist items complete. After a normal landing I reached for the speedbrake handle and the subsequent 'deployed' call; and found the speedbrake handle in the full extend position. We analyzed the approach and landing; although it was uneventful; and we could not determine if we just missed the auto-deployment of the speedbrakes or had actually flown the approach and landing with the speedbrakes extended.
B757 flight crew believes that they may have landed with spoilers extended after having used them to slow late in the approach. No abnormalities were noted during the approach and landing.