Retracting flaps on landing

[fiftiesdean]

My touch & go to full stop ratio is very high right now as I practice, and the first thing I do after landing and having control of the plane on the ground, before giving power, is retract the flaps. I understand that retracting the flaps on a full stop, however, is supposed to be after leaving the active runway. I've been caught a few times, because of muscle memory, retracting my flaps as a I slow for a full stop. I've been warned to do it per the check list (for my check ride), but other than that, I really don't understand why I would have to wait. Is this even an issue, or am I opening a can of worms?

 

[Jim Logajan]

For what little it is worth, I noticed when I flew Alaska Air from Eugene, OR to San Jose, CA with a stop in Seattle last week that the Dash 8 pilots on landing in Seattle and Eugene would start retracting flaps just before turning off the runway and the 737-400 pilots on landing in San Jose and Seattle also began retracting flaps just before turning off the runway.

(This useless bit of knowledge was gained at the cost of getting up at 4 AM to catch a 6:15 AM flight to do a product demo in Scotts Valley, CA with a return flight that got me home by just after 11 PM the same day. I rarely get to bed earlier than midnight, so it was somewhat tiring but not as bad as I feared. No idea yet whether the prospect will become a customer.)