"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
nk.net...
Why would anyone want to fly around the pattern at a constant altitude
with gear and flaps out except on a circling approach? I was leave the
gear and flaps up until I want to descend. I was under the impression
that virtually everyone did it this way.

Your impression is mistaken. In fact, I've never had a single instructor
comment on my habit of lowering the gear as I enter the downwind, and I see
plenty of retractable gear airplanes flying in the pattern with their gear
lowered.

Just as a "for example", in my airplane having the flaps and gear out do a
couple of things: they help stablize the aircraft, making flying in the
pattern easier, and the flaps ensure that even though I'm slowing to 80
knots in the pattern, I'm still comfortably above stall speed. Aircraft
handling is significantly better with the flaps and gear out.

When I was flying 182RGs, I found similar benefits, though the stabilizing
factor was the primary issue (stall speed wasn't as big of a problem, being
lower than in the airplane I fly now).

But, even if you prefer to fly with gear and flaps up until beginning your
descent, you still need less power during the descent than you needed during
level flight in the pattern. It doesn't change the fundamentals of what I
wrote.

Pete