LR60 captain experiences an unsafe nose gear indication during approach and goes around. Alternate m...

Narrative:

While on the ILS approach outside the FAF; we extended the landing gear. No green 'down' light illuminated for the nosegear; only the red 'unsafe' light. A missed approach was executed while we tried to determine the cause of the nosegear unsafe indication. I verified all circuit breakers in and began running alternate gear extension checklist to determine if we could get the nosewheel down and locked. I tried numerous times to contact maintenance control via the flight phone. All of these attempts failed. At this time we both agreed that ZZZ was our best choice for landing because of the availability of several long runways. I was unsuccessful getting the nosegear down light to illuminate after following the checklist. We declared an emergency and requested emergency equipment be standing by. We did a low altitude fly by and asked the tower to confirm the nosegear was down. The controller said it appeared down. We then circled back for landing on the same runway. After landing on the main gear the nosegear down light illuminated prior to the nosegear touching down. After clearing the runway we requested a tow to the general aviation ramp.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: LR60 Captain experiences an unsafe nose gear indication during approach and goes around. Alternate methods of gear extension do not change the indication. Flight diverts to a longer runway and a down indication is achieved when the main gear touches the runway.

Narrative: While on the ILS approach outside the FAF; we extended the landing gear. No green 'down' light illuminated for the nosegear; only the red 'unsafe' light. A missed approach was executed while we tried to determine the cause of the nosegear unsafe indication. I verified all circuit breakers in and began running alternate gear extension checklist to determine if we could get the nosewheel down and locked. I tried numerous times to contact Maintenance Control via the flight phone. All of these attempts failed. At this time we both agreed that ZZZ was our best choice for landing because of the availability of several long runways. I was unsuccessful getting the nosegear down light to illuminate after following the checklist. We declared an emergency and requested emergency equipment be standing by. We did a low altitude fly by and asked the tower to confirm the nosegear was down. The Controller said it appeared down. We then circled back for landing on the same runway. After landing on the main gear the nosegear down light illuminated prior to the nosegear touching down. After clearing the runway we requested a tow to the General Aviation ramp.

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.

Attributes
ACN	911274
Time
Date	201009
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Learjet 60
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Landing Gear Indicating System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

LR60 captain experiences an unsafe nose gear indication during approach and goes around. Alternate methods of gear extension do not change the indication. Flight diverts to a longer runway and a down indication is achieved when the main gear touches the runway.