Narrative:

After takeoff the the gear handle was raised. Immediately after the handle was raised we got two ecams: lg [landing gear] shock absorber fault and lg gear not uplocked. I had the copilot continue flying; asked him to turn on the autopilot (it would not turn on) and asked him to take over the radio and to talk to departure and let them know we needed to level off and get vectors to work on a gear problem. Departure was great as they gave us vectors away from the airport and allowed us to level off at 7;000 ft. We slowed from about 210 KTS to 190 KTS and flaps one. I must mention that during this event until the gear was lowered again the noise in the cockpit (nose gear doors open) was very loud to the point we almost had to holler to communicate and was very distracting and disconcerting (what's going on?). The autopilot would disengage every time it was engaged which forced the copilot to hand fly the aircraft the entire flight. The lg shock absorber fault disappeared leaving the gear no uplocked ECAM. We lowered the gear following the gear lg gear not uplocked ECAM and the lg shock absorber fault reappeared. As directed by this ECAM we left the gear down. I then got out the irregular section and confirmed we had indeed done everything applicable on both irregular ecams. We then began preparing to return to departure airport. At this point we had the gear down (and very quiet again; finally!) with three green down lock lights and we felt that we would have a normal landing so I did not declare an emergency. I did however ask to have the emergency equipment waiting just in case. I called the flight attendants and told them to expect a normal landing and asked them to do a cabin advisory and 'think ahead' just in case things were not as normal as we believed. I sent a diversion message to dispatch to alert them that we were returning. The copilot and I discussed talking to maintenance and both agreed that with the gear down and locked we would go back; land and work on the problem on the ground. Between take off and landing (30 minutes) ecams kept cycling on and off for a total of 29 ecams! These were the two mentioned above plus automatic flight ap off; automatic flight a/thr off and anti ice stby pitot. This was very distracting as one or the other was going off at a rate of about one every minute or sometimes multiples in a few seconds. It got to the point that we almost had to ignore them on final and concentrate on the landing. Before turning back to the airport I made a 'comforting' announcement to the passengers telling them we had a problem raising the landing gear and that the gear was now down and safely locked for landing and to expect a normal landing in about ten minutes. The copilot and I then took all the time we needed to get ready for approach (VFR). Approach and landing were uneventful with a big sigh of relief as we taxied clear of the active.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 Crew described LG SHOCK ABSORBER FAULT and LG GEAR NOT UPLOCKED ECAMs after takeoff. The distracting warnings lasted until the aircraft was prepared for landing at the departure airport.

Narrative: After takeoff the the gear handle was raised. Immediately after the handle was raised we got two ECAMs: LG [Landing Gear] SHOCK ABSORBER FAULT and LG GEAR NOT UPLOCKED. I had the copilot continue flying; asked him to turn on the autopilot (it would not turn on) and asked him to take over the radio and to talk to Departure and let them know we needed to level off and get vectors to work on a gear problem. Departure was great as they gave us vectors away from the airport and allowed us to level off at 7;000 FT. We slowed from about 210 KTS to 190 KTS and flaps one. I must mention that during this event until the gear was lowered again the noise in the cockpit (nose gear doors open) was very loud to the point we almost had to holler to communicate and was very distracting and disconcerting (what's going on?). The autopilot would disengage every time it was engaged which forced the copilot to hand fly the aircraft the entire flight. The LG SHOCK ABSORBER FAULT disappeared leaving the GEAR NO UPLOCKED ECAM. We lowered the gear following the gear LG GEAR NOT UPLOCKED ECAM and the LG SHOCK ABSORBER FAULT reappeared. As directed by this ECAM we left the gear down. I then got out the irregular section and confirmed we had indeed done everything applicable on both irregular ECAMs. We then began preparing to return to departure airport. At this point we had the gear down (and very quiet again; finally!) with three green down lock lights and we felt that we would have a normal landing so I did not declare an emergency. I did however ask to have the emergency equipment waiting just in case. I called the flight attendants and told them to expect a normal landing and asked them to do a cabin advisory and 'think ahead' just in case things were not as normal as we believed. I sent a diversion message to Dispatch to alert them that we were returning. The copilot and I discussed talking to Maintenance and both agreed that with the gear down and locked we would go back; land and work on the problem on the ground. Between take off and landing (30 minutes) ECAMS kept cycling on and off for a total of 29 ECAMs! These were the two mentioned above plus AUTO FLT AP OFF; AUTO FLT A/THR OFF and ANTI ICE STBY PITOT. This was very distracting as one or the other was going off at a rate of about one every minute or sometimes multiples in a few seconds. It got to the point that we almost had to ignore them on final and concentrate on the landing. Before turning back to the airport I made a 'comforting' announcement to the passengers telling them we had a problem raising the landing gear and that the gear was now down and safely locked for landing and to expect a normal landing in about ten minutes. The copilot and I then took all the time we needed to get ready for approach (VFR). Approach and landing were uneventful with a big sigh of relief as we taxied clear of the active.

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.