Originally Posted by rhklenke

The one thing you're not taking into account with speed is the inertia of the gear. When the gear first starts to retract, its just swinging sideways, the weight of the gear/wheels/brakes isn't yet a factor. Having the gear move fast at that point means that it will have more inertia to overcome the weight and any "friction or sticktion" in the mechanism as they approach full up. This can mean the difference between the gear fully retracting and locking up, and it not.

I've had many gear (most gear actually) that would retract (and extend) reliably and positively when setup for maximum speed, but when slowed down, would not be reliable. I know that seeing the gear slowly retract as in a full scale is cool, but on takeoff, I generally can't see it anyway as the wings are in the way, and a jet with the unlocked gear hanging down (and the air pissing out) is worse looking that gear that "slams" up and down.

Also, gear that retracts as fast as possible has less aerodynamic drag on it as the jet is generally still accelerating and getting the gear up before the first turn out also prevents G loading from making retraction harder as well. I setup my pneumatic gear to move as fast as possible and its generally much more reliable that way. The doors I generally slow down and/or put effective limiters in to keep from breaking hinges, cylinder mounts, etc.

Bob