AN A300 WITH A FAILED GND-AIR SENSING SWITCH WAS UNABLE TO RAISE THE LNDG GEAR AND ALSO HAD OTHER SYS INOP. RETURN LAND.

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CAPT'S LEG. NORMAL INITIAL TKOF AND CLB. FO CALLED 'POSITIVE RATE.' I RESPONDED; 'GEAR UP.' I SAW FO TRYING TO GET GEAR HANDLE UP AND HE STATED; 'I CAN'T RAISE THE GEAR.' ATC CALL TO CONTACT DEP. TOLD FO TO GO DEP AND TELL THEM WE NEEDED AN ALT AND HDG AS WE NEEDED TO WORK A PROB. CLRED TO 6000 FT AND HDG 060 DEGS. DURING CLB; I CALLED FOR 'FLAPS UP.' THEN TOLD FO TO TRY GEAR RETRACT AGAIN; CHK ECAM AND QRH. CALLED FOR 'SPD SELECT 200 KTS IN THE WINDOW; AUTOPLT #1 COMMAND.' TRIED SEVERAL TIMES TO RETRACT GEAR. APCHING 6000 FT; MONITORED ACFT FOR LEVELOFF AND REALIZED IT WAS NOT GOING TO LEVEL. DISCONNECTED AUTOPLT; LEVELED ACFT; CALLED FOR ALT HOLD; AUTOPLT #1 COMMAND. REALIZED AUTOTHROTTLES NOT WORKING AND HAD FO RESET AUTOTHROTTLE SWITCH A COUPLE TIMES. NO HELP. TOLD FO TO TELL ATC WE NEEDED RETURN TO BFI. ATC ASKED IF WE WANTED TO DECLARE EMER. I STATED NO. TOLD ATC NATURE OF PROB; STATED WE HAD GEAR DOWN AND LOCKED: 3 GREEN -- JUST COULDN'T RAISE IT. I STATED WE NEEDED TO GO BACK AND FIND OUT WHAT THE PROB WAS WITH THE GEAR. ATC CLRED TO DSND 3000 FT AND DOWNWIND HDG 300 DEGS (NOT POSITIVE ON HDG). SELECTED LEVEL CHANGE; RETARDED THROTTLES AND ACFT JUST SLOWED BUT WOULD NOT DSND. AT THIS POINT I WAS WONDERING WHY SO MANY THINGS WEREN'T WORKING; AND DISCONNECTED AUTOPLT. TOLD FO; 'NOTHING SEEMS TO BE WORKING; WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?' STATED I WOULD MANUALLY FLY PLANE. WE RAN A QUICK RETURN CHKLIST. TOLD FO TO NOTIFY OPS WE WERE RETURNING; UNABLE TO RETRACT LNDG GEAR. ATC ASKED IF WE HAD THE ARPT. WE CALLED THE ARPT IN SIGHT AND WERE CLRED HDG 030 DEGS; CLRED FOR VISUAL APCH. I CALLED FLAPS 15 DEGS; SPD 180 DEGS AND ASKED FO TO PULL UP APCH AND SPDS. FO WAS HAVING SOME PROBS WITH FMS AND WE WALKED THROUGH A COUPLE THINGS: CHANGING DEST; AND GETTING LNDG SPDS. ABOUT 4 MI L BASE; I CALLED GEAR DOWN; FLAPS 20 DEGS; SET SPD 160 KTS (MAYBE 150 KTS). I TOLD THE FO TO JUST CHK ILS IDENT; VNI SWITCHES TO ILS; SELECTED 'LAND' AND GOT LNDG SPD FOR CURRENT WT FROM QRH. I RECALL LNDG REF SPD WAS 127 KTS. ATC CLRED US TO LAND. I TURNED FINAL RIGHT OVER FAF FOR RWY 13 AND CALLED FLAPS 40 DEGS; LNDG CHKLIST. NORMAL STABILIZED APCH AND LNDG UP TO THE POINT OF TOUCHDOWN (NICE TOUCHDOWN). IMMEDIATELY UPON TOUCHDOWN; FELT TIRES (LNDG GEAR) 'GRAB' ABRUPTLY AND INITIALLY THOUGHT I HAD A LOCKED WHEEL OR SOME OTHER MORE SIGNIFICANT PROB. SAW MAX AUTOBRAKE GREEN LIGHT ILLUMINATED AND IMMEDIATELY PUSHED LOW BRAKE SWITCH; THEN APPLIED MANUAL BRAKING; THEN RELEASED BRAKES. NORMAL DEPLOYMENT OF THRUST REVERSERS AT MAIN WHEEL TOUCHDOWN AND WE WERE AT 80 KTS AND 60 KTS VERY QUICKLY. I CALLED FOR BRAKE FANS AND TURNED OFF RWY. ATC ADVISED THAT WE HAD A LOT OF SMOKE FROM MAINS AT TOUCHDOWN BUT NOW APPEARED TO BE CLR. I KNEW THE SMOKE WAS FROM MAX BRAKING SO WASN'T OVERLY CONCERNED. WE MONITORED BRAKE TEMPS ON TAXI IN. INDICATED TEMPS WITH FANS ON NEVER EXCEED 325 DEGS. BLOCKED IN AND PERFORMED NORMAL SHUTDOWN AND SECURE CHKLIST. WROTE UP GEAR PROB IN LOGBOOK; THEN TALKED TO MECHS. TOLD THEM ABOUT MAX BRAKE LNDG AND THEY DID THOROUGH INSPECTION OF GEAR AND STATED EVERYTHING LOOKED FINE. LEFT BRAKE FANS ON FOR ABOUT 10 MINS AFTER BLOCK-IN THEN TURNED OFF AND MONITORED. AFTER BLOCK-IN; BRAKE TEMPS DID NOT EXCEED 310 DEGS INDICATED WITH BRAKE FANS OFF. MAINT FOUND R MAIN LNDG GEAR POS SENSING SWITCH BROKEN. THIS SWITCH TELLS ACFT WHEN GEAR IS IN PROPER POS FOR SAFE RETRACT. THIS WAS A GEAR POS SENSING PROB DUE TO A BROKEN OR FAULTY SWITCH. I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS IS SOMETHING THAT IS ROUTINELY CHKED BY MAINT ON A DAILY BASIS. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING CHKED ON A CREW MEMBER'S PREFLT AND I DON'T BELIEVE MOST OF US WOULD KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR ANYWAY. I BELIEVE THE ONLY WAY TO PREVENT A FUTURE OCCURRENCE OF THE SAME SITUATION IS TO HAVE THIS SWITCH CHKED REGULARLY. HOWEVER; I DID FIND OUT THAT ALL THE OTHER PROBS; IE; AUTOTHROTTLES; MAX BRAKE REMAINING ARMED; ETC; WERE A RESULT OF THE POS OF THE GEAR HANDLE AND THE FACT THAT IT DID NOT GO TO THE 'UP' AND THEN THE 'ON' POS. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BE DISCUSSED AND REVIEWED IN SYS TRAINING; IE; ASSOCIATED CIRCUITRY AND WHAT YOU HAVE OR DON'T HAVE BASED ON GEAR HANDLE POS AND HOW YOU CAN RECOVER THESE THINGS IN THE EVENT OF A RECURRENCE. I WAS FORTUNATE THAT THE MECH I SPOKE WITH WAS AN EXPERT ON AIRBUS SYS. ALSO; DUE TO NOT BEING ABLE TO RAISE THE GEAR AND LEAVING SLATS EXTENDED; I DIDN'T DO AN AFTER TKOF CHKLIST AND SUBSEQUENTLY DID NOT DO AN APCH CHKLIST. HAD I CALLED FOR THE APCH CHKLIST; WE WOULD HAVE LIKELY CAUGHT THE FACT THAT THE BRAKES DID NOT DISARM AND WE WOULDN'T HAVE THE MAX BRAKE APPLICATION ON LNDG. AS IT TURNED OUT; THIS WAS ONE OF THOSE SITUATIONS THAT GOT US (SPECIFICALLY ME) OUT OF THE NORMAL SEQUENCE OF EVENTS AND HAD I TAKEN AN EXTENDED DOWNWIND AND TOOK SOME MORE TIME TO LOOK THINGS OVER; PROBABLY WOULD HAVE RUN THE APCH CHKLIST; WOULD HAVE CAUGHT THE MAX AUTO BRAKE ARMED; ETC. WHEN USED TO HAVING A LOT OF AUTOMATION; REVERTING TO ALL MANUAL AND RAW DATA INDICATIONS COULD HAVE BEEN A PROB. WE WERE FORTUNATE IT WAS A CLR; VFR NIGHT BECAUSE WX AND ACTUAL INST CONDITIONS WOULD HAVE COMPOUNDED OUR SITUATION. WE FELL BACK ON THE OLD AVIATE; NAV; COM RULES AND IT WAS A GOOD LEARNING EXPERIENCE THAT TURNED OUT OK; WITH NO FAR OR AIRSPACE VIOLATIONS AND SAFE OUTCOME.