Narrative:

When cleared for takeoff; I taxied onto the runway and made a 90 degree tight turn to align aircraft with departure heading. Due to tight turn; steering inoperative message posted. I stopped aircraft; turned off the nose wheel steering and slowly allowed nose wheel to center so nose wheel steering could be turned on. The first officer told the tower about our actions. There was a private aircraft on a 3 mile final to the runway we were on. ATC told that aircraft to go around. By then the nose wheel steering was reset and operating normally. We told ATC we were ready for takeoff and then departed. As soon as we knew there was a steering problem; we notified ATC that we were not ready for takeoff. I stated that nose wheel steering sometimes has problems when a tight turn is involved. I have been told by maintenance; and it has been my experience that; by turning off the steering; taxiing slowly; straightening the nose wheel with the rudder and then turning the steering on; the problem has always corrected itself. Since the reason for the nose steering problem was known (tight turn) and was now operating normally; I felt it was safe to continue. Maintenance was not contacted to reset the nose steering (since it was now operating normally) nor was this event put in the maintenance log as 'condition no longer exists' (which I now think I should have done). If some maintenance event occurs in the future; I will write it up in the maintenance log and communicate with maintenance.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-700 Captain experiences a nose wheel 'STEERING INOP' message while making a sharp turn on to the runway for departure. The takeoff is delayed while the steering is reset and an aircraft on final is instructed to go around.

Narrative: When cleared for takeoff; I taxied onto the runway and made a 90 degree tight turn to align aircraft with departure heading. Due to tight turn; STEERING INOP message posted. I stopped aircraft; turned off the nose wheel steering and slowly allowed nose wheel to center so nose wheel steering could be turned on. The First Officer told the Tower about our actions. There was a private aircraft on a 3 mile final to the runway we were on. ATC told that aircraft to go around. By then the nose wheel steering was reset and operating normally. We told ATC we were ready for takeoff and then departed. As soon as we knew there was a steering problem; we notified ATC that we were not ready for takeoff. I stated that nose wheel steering sometimes has problems when a tight turn is involved. I have been told by Maintenance; and it has been my experience that; by turning off the steering; taxiing slowly; straightening the nose wheel with the rudder and then turning the steering on; the problem has always corrected itself. Since the reason for the nose steering problem was known (tight turn) and was now operating normally; I felt it was safe to continue. Maintenance was not contacted to reset the nose steering (since it was now operating normally) nor was this event put in the Maintenance log as 'condition no longer exists' (which I now think I should have done). If some Maintenance event occurs in the future; I will write it up in the Maintenance log and communicate with Maintenance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.