> large volume of hydraulic fluid surges back into the pump pushed
> along by three gear legs being pulled down by gravity.

data points from Tweety:

The hyd pump turns on for 0.5sec after sitting overnight.
Twice I've selected gear *up* and nothing happened.
The valve in May's legacy from high to low was removed for leakage.

does making a system more complicated increase safety?

crack the dump valve when the gear doesn't move
EFIS  vs HSI
FADEC vs Mags
WAAS  vs GPS without the extra geo satlight corrections

Rob