Narrative:

Event started on climbout. Landing gear failed to retract (gear handle solenoid) did not release handle for retraction. Gear stayed down and 3 green locked lights stayed on. After advising ATC for vectors for a troubleshooting gear anomaly; elected to land and consult our maintenance personnel. Similar problem encountered by a crew in the same aircraft a few weeks earlier. Attributed to low nose strut nitrogen charge after takeoff; nose strut would not go to full travel which inhibited nose strut squat switch from making contact allowing retraction sequence to commence. Consultation with maintenance and visually confirming no noticeable issue with gear; decision was made to attempt inflight maneuver of simple pitch up to allow gravity to pull nose gear to full length. No passengers aboard-only crew. Attempt from prior event an year earlier with different crew was successful. This simple fix lulled me into complacency and with maintenance stating to try it; I flew aircraft with known potential problem. Normal takeoff VFR; gear would not retract again with brisk rotation. Advised ATC of gear anomaly again and flew VFR circuit to normal landing and return to FBO. My decision making flawed in that I could not have known it was just a low serviced strut. Although; there was plenty of strut showing for dispatch in the nose strut of the aircraft. Following day; maintenance did discover low strut pressure and serviced. Ops was normal. I will never attempt a flight in an aircraft with a known issue until I have maintenance personnel inspect the aircraft.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CE750 flight crew reports' failure of the landing gear to retract after takeoff due to inability to raise the gear handle. Flight returns to departure airport for a normal landing. Nose strut servicing is thought to be the culprit and with maintenance concurrence; another takeoff is made with a vigorous rotation but the gear does not retract. Strut servicing does solve the problem.

Narrative: Event started on climbout. Landing gear failed to retract (Gear Handle Solenoid) did not release handle for retraction. Gear stayed down and 3 green locked lights stayed on. After advising ATC for vectors for a troubleshooting gear anomaly; elected to land and consult our Maintenance personnel. Similar problem encountered by a crew in the same aircraft a few weeks earlier. Attributed to low nose strut nitrogen charge after takeoff; nose strut would not go to full travel which inhibited nose strut squat switch from making contact allowing retraction sequence to commence. Consultation with Maintenance and visually confirming no noticeable issue with gear; decision was made to attempt inflight maneuver of simple pitch up to allow gravity to pull nose gear to full length. No passengers aboard-only crew. Attempt from prior event an year earlier with different crew was successful. This simple fix lulled me into complacency and with Maintenance stating to try it; I flew aircraft with known potential problem. Normal takeoff VFR; gear would not retract again with brisk rotation. Advised ATC of gear anomaly again and flew VFR circuit to normal landing and return to FBO. My decision making flawed in that I could not have known it was just a low serviced strut. Although; there was plenty of strut showing for dispatch in the nose strut of the aircraft. Following day; Maintenance did discover low strut pressure and serviced. Ops was normal. I will never attempt a flight in an aircraft with a known issue until I have Maintenance personnel inspect the aircraft.

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.