Originally Posted by
EGPFlyer
I’ve always taken it that that the FCOM written in such a way to say that you ‘should’ wait for the gear to be down before selecting F3 but not that you ‘must’ (i.e. there’s no limitation)
Precisely, if it was a limitation, it would be in the FCOM-LIM. Years ago I remember a good captain denying me flaps 3 whilst the gear was travelling (after admittedly I forgot to configure in time). We finally selected flaps full out at about 1020ft (so 20ft away from our approach gate) to satisfy his limitation. People get so caught up in this crap that they totally miss the big picture. He would have probably rather have executed a go-around than 'stressing' the hydraulics .