A321
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Distraction
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Landing Without Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter
General None Reported / Taken
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
[We] landed JFK without a clearance. Pilot not flying switched from Approach to Tower frequency and erred on frequency selected on comm. Pilot not flying called for landing clearance and did not receive a reply. Proceeded with usual callouts and completed a normal landing then realized the error. On arrival approximately 40 west of JFK we were following a heavy B747 and had been hit with moderate wake turbulence. We requested an offset from the unseen aircraft to continue. On final we got a visual on the aircraft which was sequenced right in front of us. There was crew technical discussion regarding winds; wake turbulence; go-around; etc.; from that aircraft that would constitute a distraction. Spacing and strong winds from the north made for a wake turbulence free approach. After clearing; we contacted Tower and were issued taxi instructions. Captain (pilot not flying) focused on possible wake turbulence from the heavy 747 to the exclusion of normal operations; missed the gorilla so to speak.
A321 landed without clearance after an earlier wake vortex encounter distracted the flight crew.