Narrative:

After takeoff; we received a gear disagree warning message when we selected gear up. I could tell that the gear was in an unsafe position by sound; and this was confirmed by the EICAS. I asked the first officer to request a level off at 5;000 ft and to tell ATC that we had a problem with the gear that we would have to work through. After leveling off I asked for the gear disagree checklist and we began to work through the problem. The QRH procedure worked and we were able to manually extend the gear. Once that was complete I handed the aircraft over to the first officer and I told ATC that we would be returning. I ACARS'd the dispatcher to let him know we were returning and that we were declaring an emergency. I then called the flight attendant to let her know that we were returning and to expect a normal landing; but we also briefed what to do in case of a gear collapse. I then made a PA announcement to the [passengers] to let them know we were returning and that we should expect a normal landing. ATC asked if we would accept [a shorter runway] but I declined because we were overweight and the QRH noted that the gear may try to retract depending on the type of failure. I also remembered from earlier in the morning that it had some snow on the west end. I ran the landing data and set up the approach; briefed it; [and] then we transferred the controls back to me for the landing. I touched down normally and we taxied back to the gate under the supervision of the fire department. Upon reaching the gate I called mtc wrote up the gear and the overweight landing. In the future; I think I will be quicker to declare an emergency; but I feel we handled the event very well overall.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ200 flight crew reports failure of the nose gear to retract completely after takeoff. QRH procedures are used to extend the gear manually and the flight returns to the departure airport for an overweight landing.

Narrative: After takeoff; we received a Gear Disagree Warning message when we selected gear up. I could tell that the gear was in an unsafe position by sound; and this was confirmed by the EICAS. I asked the First Officer to request a level off at 5;000 FT and to tell ATC that we had a problem with the gear that we would have to work through. After leveling off I asked for the Gear Disagree Checklist and we began to work through the problem. The QRH procedure worked and we were able to manually extend the gear. Once that was complete I handed the aircraft over to the First Officer and I told ATC that we would be returning. I ACARS'd the Dispatcher to let him know we were returning and that we were declaring an emergency. I then called the FA to let her know that we were returning and to expect a normal landing; but we also briefed what to do in case of a gear collapse. I then made a PA announcement to the [passengers] to let them know we were returning and that we should expect a normal landing. ATC asked if we would accept [a shorter runway] but I declined because we were overweight and the QRH noted that the gear may try to retract depending on the type of failure. I also remembered from earlier in the morning that it had some snow on the west end. I ran the landing data and set up the approach; briefed it; [and] then we transferred the controls back to me for the landing. I touched down normally and we taxied back to the gate under the supervision of the fire department. Upon reaching the gate I called MTC wrote up the gear and the overweight landing. In the future; I think I will be quicker to declare an emergency; but I feel we handled the event very well overall.

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.