Narrative:

Nosewheel steering was inoperative and on MEL. Start-up; taxi and takeoff were uneventful and steering was easily accomplished with differential braking and thrust. After gear retraction on takeoff I noticed that there was a lot of air noise coming from the nose wheel area and that the red 'unsafe' light was on for the nose gear. Our speed was still below gear operating so I asked the first officer to recycle the gear. The gear came down normally with three green and no red. When the gear was again raised the red nose gear unsafe light remained on. I told the first officer that we would have to return and have the situation remedied. We were in and out of the clouds; so we got vectors for the ILS approach. Gear was lowered and 'three green no red' lights were observed. Landing was normal and on centerline. I called for spoilers; which the first officer extended; and selected idle reverse with the sub-throttles. As the nose wheel was lowered to the runway the aircraft started a slight left turn. I applied right rudder with no effect. I got to full rudder; still with absolutely no effect; then applied full right brake; still with no effect. I then raised the right sub-throttle to full reverse thrust and the aircraft continued turning left. I could see we were going to exit the runway and we did at about 80 KIAS (best guess as I was not looking at the airspeed indicator!). The ground on the left side of the runway is flat and very muddy from recent rains. We went about 200 ft through the mud and the aircraft came to a stop about 50-60 ft off the runway. I shut down the engines and got the passengers out. There were no injuries; except to my pride. When we left the runway we hit a taxiway sign and the left flap was damaged. The flap damage appears to be the only damage to the aircraft except for a lot of mud mainly on the landing gear. I believe that for some reason on gear retraction the nose wheel got cocked and possibly jammed slightly to the left.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: LJ25 crew was dispatched with the nosewheel steering inoperative and on MEL. After takeoff the nose gear did not retract completely; necessitating a return. Upon nose wheel touch down the aircraft turned left and could not be corrected with right rudder; brake or thrust reverser. Aircraft came to a stop 50 FT off the runway with minimal damage.

Narrative: Nosewheel steering was inoperative and on MEL. Start-up; taxi and takeoff were uneventful and steering was easily accomplished with differential braking and thrust. After gear retraction on takeoff I noticed that there was a lot of air noise coming from the nose wheel area and that the red 'unsafe' light was on for the nose gear. Our speed was still below gear operating so I asked the First Officer to recycle the gear. The gear came down normally with three green and no red. When the gear was again raised the red nose gear unsafe light remained on. I told the First Officer that we would have to return and have the situation remedied. We were in and out of the clouds; so we got vectors for the ILS approach. Gear was lowered and 'three green no red' lights were observed. Landing was normal and on centerline. I called for spoilers; which the First Officer extended; and selected idle reverse with the sub-throttles. As the nose wheel was lowered to the runway the aircraft started a slight left turn. I applied right rudder with no effect. I got to full rudder; still with absolutely no effect; then applied full right brake; still with no effect. I then raised the right sub-throttle to full reverse thrust and the aircraft continued turning left. I could see we were going to exit the runway and we did at about 80 KIAS (best guess as I was not looking at the airspeed indicator!). The ground on the left side of the runway is flat and very muddy from recent rains. We went about 200 FT through the mud and the aircraft came to a stop about 50-60 FT off the runway. I shut down the engines and got the passengers out. There were no injuries; except to my pride. When we left the runway we hit a taxiway sign and the left flap was damaged. The flap damage appears to be the only damage to the aircraft except for a lot of mud mainly on the landing gear. I believe that for some reason on gear retraction the nose wheel got cocked and possibly jammed slightly to the left.

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.