2011-03 · NASA ASRS report 937488
A C750's landing gear failed to retract after takeoff and because of strong winds; many nearby airports were unsuitable for landing; so after confusing discussions with Dispatch the flight diverted to a distant airport.
[This was a] late departure due to late arrival as a result of crosswind limitations and go-arounds. Upon briefing and [receiving] takeoff clearance [the] aircraft commenced takeoff roll; rotation; and attempted gear retraction. [The] pilot not flying in the right seat attempted to lift [the] gear handle which would not move out of the down position with three green indications. Aircraft departed with 12;000 LBS of fuel; tankering through to our Midwest destination. Due to the excess fuel it was necessary to burn off fuel to approximately 9;200 LBS to meet minimum landing weight. Upon review of the checklist; it was determined to land as soon as practical. [The] PIC contacted Dispatch; Operational Control; and the Assistant Chief Pilot to review options for landing to address the aircraft malfunction; fuel burn-off; and passenger recovery. Several options were looked at; the first [of which] the runway [was] too short considering the malfunction. The second had possible wind issues again [as well as] two others further away. It was determined that with the amount of fuel we needed to burn off; to continue west [to] a midpoint airport and get a recovery effort for the passenger. Unfortunately; TRACON had kept us in the area for nearly 30 minutes and that airport then would have been too far. Discussions with the crew ensued and the Assistant Chief Pilot called back and asked to land in either of two fairly close airports. [However]; due to runway and winds it was determined to go into a somewhat southern airport. Aircraft was programmed and configured for a northerly runway considering winds; which were approximately 330 at 18 KTS. We requested to have the trucks standing by just in case there was a follow on gear issue upon touchdown at which time the new destination airport handled it as an 'emergency in progress.' Due to the PIC in the left seat doing company coordination; setup; and communications; flying duties had been switched to the right seat SIC. PIC elected to have very capable SIC maintain the controls and execute the landing. Aircraft executed the approach to a visual uneventfully; rolling out and exiting the runway. This was a malfunction of the aircraft. The only issue was selection of landing airport; which looking back and due to lack of recovery aircraft; should have been more northern; but [it was] difficult to determine the perfect answer considering the fuel load and interruption in a busy airspace.
I feel confusion on the company's part created several stressful and frustrating situations during the event; especially in regards to requesting several destinations and separate clearances from ATC. As the event continued; various company entities were giving us conflicting information thus causing us to acquire several different destination clearances and then load into the FMS. Each time this occurred; it resulted in several different clearances and created pilot overload at times as I was the one copying the clearance and entering the different waypoints into the FMS. [It was an] overload especially in turns. Upon arrival; it also put us into a peculiar situation with the passenger as there were 2 company aircraft on that FBO ramp and nobody to fly our passenger to his destination. I would hope in the future there could be a better contingency plan; so that we would fly to an airport with a recovery aircraft on or near our location. This will allow us not to appear confused regarding destinations; recovery; etc. In the future; I will request to stay with the original plan of staying in the location of the aircraft malfunction as not doing so created the situation above.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
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