B737-300
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 315; Flight Crew Type 12000
Time Pressure; Communication Breakdown; Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness
Deviation - Speed All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Human Factors; Procedure
During climb out I informed the First Officer that I would like to climb at a faster speed than normal in order to get back on time upon arrival. I programmed and flew a 320 KIAS climb in VMC conditions. The faster climb speed resulted in a lower climb rate and we ended up reaching our cruise altitude just prior to beginning our descent. During descent; it became clear that we were high on profile. I extended the speedbrakes and increased the rate of descent. This still did not provide enough correction to be able to make the straight-in approach we desired. Approximately 45 NM out at FL180 I asked for the landing gear to be extended; intending to use the gear and speedbrake to get back to a normal path. My First Officer was distracted just then with a radio call from ATC; so I repeated 'landing gear down.' He complied with my request; and only afterward did we both realize that we had extended the gear above the placarded speed of 270 KIAS/0.82 Mach. Our parameters at the time of extension were 290 KIAS / 0.70 Mach. We immediately slowed to 250 KIAS and subsequently made an uneventful landing. After arrival at the gate; we contacted Dispatch and Maintenance Control to report the exceedance; made a logbook entry; and coordinated for contract Maintenance to make an inspection. Post-flight inspection revealed no damage. In retrospect; I allowed myself to get too much into a hurry-up mentality; and then got us into an energy jam. A better response would have been to ask for vectors to descend; and certainly to make sure we were within parameters for gear extension before calling for them. My First Officer is a very experienced pilot and we had been having an excellent day together. The distraction by the ATC radio call led him to trust my judgment in extending the gear early to get down; but I could have waited until he was not distracted before asking for the gear. We debriefed the event after the flight; and are both embarrassed that we allowed this to occur; and agreed that proper pilot not flying/pilot flying procedures would trap this error in the future.
ATC had kept us high entirely too long.If the Captain had waited until I finished the radio exchange then I would have been more 'in the loop' and I would probably have realized that the speed had increased from our programmed 266.
High and fast on the descent while attempting to get back on schedule; the flight crew of a B737-300 extended the landing gear at an airspeed in excess of the limit to do so. A delayed descent clearance from ATC may have contributed to the conundrum.