CRJ-700 flight crew reported nose wheel steering was jammed due to the gear door during landing. Flight was towed to the gate.
Synopsis
CRJ-700 flight crew reported nose wheel steering was jammed due to the gear door during landing. Flight was towed to the gate.
Narrative
On approach into ZZZ runway XXR; landing gear was extended; after which a series of loud noises could be heard coming from the nose gear area of the aircraft; right below the flight deck. All gear indications were normal; the approach was continued and a normal landing was executed. After rollout; the aircraft was taxied off the runway at a high speed turnoff and on taxiway 1; running between the ZZZ parallel runways; and held short of runway XXL at taxiway 2. After receiving the runway crossing clearance; the aircraft was attempted to be taxied across the runway but both pilots quickly realized the aircraft would not steer to the right; only left. As we would later find out; this was caused by the nose gear door; which had become loose during the flight and jammed itself up against the side of the torque link during one of the taxi turns after landing; preventing the nose wheel from being turned to the right. Unable to straighten out the nose wheel to taxi across the runway; the aircraft became disabled with the nose not more than about 2 feet past the hold short bars at taxiway 2; which was beyond the usable portion of ZZZ's shortened runway; at time of incident. A tug team was called to the scene; and in the meantime; some aircraft continued to depart XXL after the tower mentioned the aircraft was not on the usable part of the runway. When the tow team arrived; runway XXL was closed to departing aircraft for a total of about 20 minutes. Maintenance had to come out to the aircraft as the tow team could not connect to the aircraft with the gear door jammed. After maintenance released the door; the tug towed the aircraft to the gate without further incident.
Second reporter narrative
After an otherwise uneventful flight; while on approach into ZZZ runway XXR; we heard a loud clunking/tumbling sound when lowering the gear. Both I as PM and the CA (PF) looked and verified that we saw three green landing gear indications. With all indications being normal; we continued the landing which did not feel abnormal. We exited and followed instructions to taxi and hold short of runway XXL. Upon receiving clearance to cross; we started moving at which point the CA noticed that the plane was veering to the left and would not straighten out. There were no CAS (Crew Alerting System) messages or any other indications of an issue with the nosewheel steering; which we could feel working when moving the tiller farther left. We were approximately three feet past the hold short line before realizing that we would not be able to continue taxiing and notified tower that we would need a tug. Since we were past the usable length of the shortened runway; tower launched a few aircraft after advising them of our situation before closing the runway so we could be towed. When the tug arrived; we were informed that they would not be able to hook up with the nose wheel in its current state and had to wait for MX (Maintenance) to arrive to be towed to the gate. After looking at the nose gear at the gate it appears that the gear door had come loose and jammed the torque link; preventing the nosewheel from turning to the right.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.