B757 air carrier flight crew reported nose landing gear malfunction on approach. After an uneventful landing; inspection revealed a sheared nose gear actuator rod.
Synopsis
B757 air carrier flight crew reported nose landing gear malfunction on approach. After an uneventful landing; inspection revealed a sheared nose gear actuator rod.
Narrative
After takeoff from Runway XXR at ZZZ1; and the gear retract cycle appeared to complete; there was a short bump" noise and feel under the cockpit; but all indications appeared normal. Flight continued enroute to destination without any issues.Upon the gear extension on approach to Runway YYL at ZZZ; there was a significant bang and thud; followed by slight vibration and unusual noise; so we discontinued the approach. We also had no NOSE GEAR GREEN down light; a GEAR DOORS and GEAR DISAGREE caution message on the EICAS. Additionally there was a status message of LDG GEAR MONITOR.We received vectors to the east; and a climb to 9000 feet; and once we were stabilized; I had the First Officer walk back to inform the jumpseaters we had a serious gear issue and requested if one of them would sit with us in the cockpit jumpseat as an extra set of eyes and ears. Employee A joined us in the cockpit until we later were parked in the gate safely. I [requested priority handling] with ATC; and once we completed the QRH; with no change in the conditions and we were essentially down to the point of "Plan to land on available gear"; we sent several short messages with Dispatch and Maintenance Control to inform them of the situation. We requested Runway YYR at that point to have the longest available runway. We did one low-approach to Runway YYR and the emergency personal informed us it "appeared" we had a nose gear at least hanging down; but obviously we had no idea of the condition or stability of the nose gear.Fuel was not really an issue from a time standpoint; but we also discussed whether to burn down more fuel; but with it only lowering the landing speed 1-2 knots; we elected to setup for landing at the point and have the extra fuel in case we needed multiple approaches. I then directed Employee A to take all our backpacks; coffee jug and heavy loose items in the cockpit to store in the galley lockers and ensure everything in the galley was safely secured in the event of a gear collapse on landing. I also briefed the jumpseaters on the plan; and we left open and secured the cockpit door to help with egress if needed from any position of crew and jumpseaters. We then had one more short discussion if there was anything else to address; and we were happy we had done all the necessary steps to complete prior to approach and landing.With men and equipment standing by; we subsequently landed uneventfully on Runway YYR and slowly brought to a full stop. Airport emergency crews said they did not see anything apparently wrong with the aircraft. We coordinated with ZZZ ramp to have maintenance come out the runway with a tug. They inspected the a gear and installed gear pins; and then informed us that the nose gear actuator appeared to have sheared off. Once they noted no other damage on the aircraft; we started the APU; shut down the engines and coordinated a maintenance tow to the gate.Once in the gate; we cancelled the request with ATC.Cause: Seeing the condition of the sheared nose gear actuator rod; there clearly was a mechanical failure. We assume this may have happened on departure after the gear reached the up position and the unlock engaged. Then when we lowered the gear normally on approach into ZZZ; during the sequence that the unlock released; the nose gear most likely free fell into position causing the large bang and vibration. Suggestion: Not 100% certain other than some form of inspection that would have potentially identified the metal failure in an earlier stage prior to catastrophic failure of the part."
Second reporter narrative
When raising the landing gear departing ZZZ1; we heard a fairly loud thud. We questioned whether it may have been a bird strike; but we agreed that it was probably not and felt as though it was in the nose gear area. I thought that it may have been a sequencing issue with the gear doors where maybe they caught onto each other before 'snapping' closed. All other indications were normal with no vibrations or other abnormal indications. We were scheduled into ZZZ with a lot of fuel so we continued to our destination. On the final approach when the landing gear level was put down; we heard a much louder banging noise with abnormal vibrations. We executed a discontinued approach leaving the gear handle down. We were vectored around ZZZ while we worked the problem and [requested priority handling]. We had a red 'Gear Not Down' light; 2 green main gear lights; an amber doors light; and an amber gear light. We contacted Dispatch and Maintenance Control for any assistance they could provide. Referenced flight manuals; and had a 757 captain jumpseater come up to the cockpit. We elected the right side runway as it was longer and came around to do a low approach. Both the tower and a ground person were unable to tell for sure as it was dark; but the gear did look down. We landed on [Runway] YY right and stopped straight ahead on the runway with no issues. Maintenance came out to pin the gear and we were towed into the gate. Cause: Faulty nose gear actuator.Suggestion: Inspections of the actuators on the 757 fleet.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.