2010-07 · NASA ASRS report 899783
An ERJ170 landing gear handle would not move out of down position after takeoff. The crew continued to the destination gear down with the Dispatcher's concurrence. Later it was determined that they should have landed at the nearest suitable airport.
After takeoff the Captain (pilot flying) called for gear up. When I went to retract the gear the handle would not move at all. All gear indications were green indicating down and locked. We continued our climb out ensuring we were clear of all obstacles. After retracting the flaps and getting away from the busy terminal area; we began to run the QRH procedures. While attempting to determine what was a suitable airport to land at we sent an ACARS message to Dispatch saying we were considering continuing; since at that point we were almost halfway there and we did not feel that returning to our departure airport with its heavy traffic flow was the best possible option. Dispatch sent a message back saying they had conferred with Maintenance Control and they agreed that the best option at the time was for us to continue. We proceeded to land at our destination airport without issue. At no time was there any indication that there were any other problems with the aircraft other than the stuck gear handle.
As [our] flight was climbing through 10;000 FT; [we] received ACARS; 'Gear will not come up. Do we continue?' At this time I went over to talk to Maintenance Control and they said they were ok with continuing. I also advised the Dispatch Coordinator leaving and the one taking over (they were changing shifts at the time). One told me to continue and the other said to return. I asked some other Dispatchers as well; since I was not sure what to do. I found the QRH and paged to the landing gear section; but I saw only EICAS messages that did not fit the situation. I knew that icing was a concern for gear down so I referenced AIRMET's and PIREP's and found no known or forecast icing. I responded to the crew that Maintenance Control was OK with them continuing and that I could not find a QRH reference; but that there was no known or forecast icing. The flight had leveled off at 15;000 FT at this time and was approximately one third to one half of the way to our destination. I calculated a gear down burn and sent this info to the crew. The crew sent an ACARS at that time saying they agreed it would be OK to continue. Maintenance Control asked me to verify that the crew had 3 green indications and that everything indicated down and locked which I did via ACARS. The crew responded '3 green/handle will not move upward'. Up until this point; all we knew was that it wouldn't come up; we hadn't known that the handle was not even physically moving. The flight continued and landed. Several hours later I heard people saying that they should have landed at the nearest suitable airport. I was frustrated that I could not find a checklist or any reference to this situation. When the Captain had called on the ground he had told me he ran the checklist so I knew there had to be one. I asked other Dispatchers and they could not find it either. Finally a pilot pointed out that there is a QRH section for non-annunciated situations and that 'Gear Lever Cannot Be Moved Up' is there. I was not aware of this section and had just been looking elsewhere. Looking at it later; I now see that the paragraph directs you to another section which says to 'land at the nearest suitable airport'. I should have inquired more about the nature of the problem. I did not know about the handle not physically moving up until he was about to land. Prior to that I had just known the gear was staying down. The phrase that the lever could not be moved corresponded to a QRH reference in that section that could have helped get me to the 'land at nearest suitable' phrase. Of course; my lack of familiarity and practice with the QRH was an even bigger problem. When I couldn't find a reference; I resorted to polling other people in the room which wasted time. I ended up with a split recommendation from some people and by the time we'd talked it over the flight was even closer so it eventually seemed like the decision was making itself. If I'd been better with the QRH that would not have happened.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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