737 gear down at high speed -Good technique, or not?
Swopping stories of flying the other day and the subject came up of pilots who make a habit of dropping the landing gear in the 737 at 250 knots in order to salvage a stuffed up profile. Speaking from the perspective of a passenger I must say the sudden noise of the gear actuation at high speed can be quite alarming.
If track shortening is offered by ATC when the aircraft is already close to the airport and the new profile is immediately very high, is it really necessary to frighten the horses by throwing out the gear at high speed, instead of using intelligent energy control and asking ATC for a couple of miles in which to get the flaps out first before the gear as normal?