2026-01 · NASA ASRS report 2320652
ERJ-170 flight crew reported after the initial climb the Captain could not move the landing gear handle to the up position. They ran the QRH and returned to the departure airport.
Flight ABCD was a normal flight until the initial climb; and everything was done in compliance with company standards till this point. I was the PF and the Captain was the PM. On the climb; just after rotation; the Captain called 'positive rate' and I responded with 'gear up'. At this point; I noticed the Captain could not move the landing gear handle to the up position. We continued the climb with the callouts of HDG; FLCH 210; and retracted flaps; ATC (Tower) told us to contact Departure. We then brought out the QRH to run the appropriate checklist. Since; there were no obstacles and no WOW sensor fail on EICAS; the QRH directed us to land at the nearest suitable airport. After running the QRH; the Captain contacted ATC (Departure); he stated we would most likely be returning to ZZZ because our landing gear would not retract; but we needed radar vectors to run a checklist and burn fuel first. We proceeded to double check the QRH to make sure all appropriate actions were taken; which was confirmed. The Captain then contacted the FAs (flight attendants) and then the passengers; I contacted Dispatch. ATC gave us radar vectors and asked for our fuel and souls on board. After giving the information; ATC stated they were giving us priority handling. We burned fuel; ran appropriate checklists; and setup/briefed for landing on Runway XXL. ATC confirmed our gear was down and we had indication the landing gear was down and locked; therefore; we treated it as a normal landing. After landing; we taxied off XXL and contacted emergency personnel. I stated we had no abnormalities and emergency personnel also confirmed this. We cleaned up the plane; contacted operations for a gate; and then ATC for taxi clearance. We taxied the plane to Gate XX and parked appropriately. Emergency personnel and Maintenance were at the gate.
While conducting Flight ABCD ZZZ to ZZZ1 my FO (First Officer) was pilot flying and I as Captain was pilot monitoring. Everything went fine up until the takeoff phase of flight. We were cleared for takeoff from XXL and we made our callouts as per company SOP. As I called positive rate and my FO called gear up I went to select the gear up and could not move the gear selector handle. I verbalized this to my FO and he continued with the heading call and the VNAV call. We were told to contact Departure by Tower and after I had selected VNAV my FO also asked for Autopilot on. I selected Autopilot on and we cleaned up the aircraft. As we were accelerating I asked my FO if he wanted me to select manual speeds since the speed was at 210 at the moment and I didn't think it would be smart to accelerate to 250. He agreed and I switched it to manual speeds. Once the aircraft was cleaned up; I contacted Departure and explained that we needed vectors to run a checklist due to our gear not coming up. They gave us and initial heading of south and I referenced the QRH procedure and told my FO he had the radios for now. I ran the QRH procedure that stipulated there was no other indications other than the handle being locked out and this ultimately led to land at the nearest suitable airport. We both agreed that our Departure airport was the best place to go but knew we needed to burn roughly a 1000 lbs of fuel to not have an overweight landing. I conveyed this to ATC and said we would need to burn some fuel but would like to come back to XXL. I then asked my FO if he could let Dispatch know we had to return and he did this while I contacted the FA's (flight attendants) to let them know we had to return and that it would be a normal landing. I came back to the intercom and told my FO that I needed to make an announcement to the Passengers. I did this and when I was done my FO told me ATC wanted to know fuel and souls onboard. I gave these numbers to ATC and they responded that they were giving us priority handling. We boxed around until we burned enough fuel and while we did this we build and briefed the approach. Once we had the field in sight and we were ready we were cleared by approach for the visual XXL. The approach was flown within standard SOP and on short final ATC advised us that they saw 3 landing gear down. We landed and taxied off the runway and contacted fire who was waiting for us. My FO told them we saw no abnormal irregularities and they confirmed that's what they saw. Once this was complete we taxied into the gate with no further issues.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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