Narrative:

After being cleared for the visual approach into ZZZ; I called for the gear down and flaps 15 degrees. As soon as the flaps were moving; I noticed the nose gear had a red light and the gear horn sounded. At that time I stopped the descent and we decided to cycle the gear. After cycling the gear; the same indication remained. The emergency checklist 'landing gear indicator malfunction' was used to attempt to verify a down and locked situation. We did receive 3 lights on the alternate 'gear locked down' indicator. We advised ZZZ tower of our situation and abandoned the approach and decided to fly west of the airport to assess the situation further with operations and maintenance and notify the flight attendant. Even though the emergency checklist stated that an external visual check is not required; we decided to do a low approach for the tower or any ground personnel could visually see a nose gear. We did 2 low approaches to runways xx and xy in ZZZ without any getting a visual confirmation that the gear was down. Then we flew east of the airport again to contact maintenance. We decided to commit to a landing on runway xx using flaps 35 degrees and holding the nose off the runway for as long as possible. I landed the aircraft and during rollout but before the nose touched the runway; the emergency personnel visually confirmed the nose gear was down. We brought the aircraft to a stop and taxied to the gate without incident. Supplemental information from acn 825050: we identified the gear was down and locked by using the alternate gear indication on the floor. We also did 2 fly-bys so tower could verify nose gear. Called operations and maintenance to confirm situation. Declared emergency for backup.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A DHC-8 flight crew got a red gear unsafe light and warning horn after extending the landing gear. They declared an emergency; followed procedures; determined the gear was down; had equipment standing by; and made a normal landing.

Narrative: After being cleared for the visual approach into ZZZ; I called for the gear down and flaps 15 degrees. As soon as the flaps were moving; I noticed the nose gear had a red light and the gear horn sounded. At that time I stopped the descent and we decided to cycle the gear. After cycling the gear; the same indication remained. The emergency checklist 'Landing Gear Indicator Malfunction' was used to attempt to verify a down and locked situation. We did receive 3 lights on the alternate 'Gear Locked Down' indicator. We advised ZZZ Tower of our situation and abandoned the approach and decided to fly west of the airport to assess the situation further with operations and Maintenance and notify the Flight Attendant. Even though the emergency checklist stated that an external visual check is not required; we decided to do a low approach for the Tower or any ground personnel could visually see a nose gear. We did 2 low approaches to Runways XX and XY in ZZZ without any getting a visual confirmation that the gear was down. Then we flew east of the airport again to contact Maintenance. We decided to commit to a landing on Runway XX using flaps 35 degrees and holding the nose off the runway for as long as possible. I landed the aircraft and during rollout but before the nose touched the runway; the emergency personnel visually confirmed the nose gear was down. We brought the aircraft to a stop and taxied to the gate without incident. Supplemental information from ACN 825050: We identified the gear was down and locked by using the alternate gear indication on the floor. We also did 2 fly-bys so Tower could verify nose gear. Called operations and Maintenance to confirm situation. Declared emergency for backup.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.