Narrative:

After takeoff the first officer was unable to raise the landing gear and the 'lg wow system fail' EICAS message was displayed. Obstacle clearance was not a factor so after leaving 1;000 ft I handed over the aircraft to the first officer and told him to accelerate to 200 KTS. The EICAS had cleared so I tried once again to raise the gear only to find that the gear handle would not move. I called ATC and advised that we had a gear problem and requested we level at 5;000 ft and vectors to remain in the area while we ran some checklist. I then got out the QRH and ran the 'gear lever cannot be moved up' procedure followed by the 'lg wow system fail' checklist as directed by the previous checklist. The 'lg wow system fail' procedure directed us to land at the nearest suitable airport. It also advised that on landing; 'thrust reversers; steering; ground spoilers; wing anti-ice; and ground idle may not be available.'I advised approach that we would be returning and that due to possible inoperative reversers; steering; and ground spoilers; we wanted the emergency equipment standing by. I then called the flight attendants and made an announcement to the passengers. I also advised dispatch of our return to the field. During all this I had to answer numerous ATC calls because my first officer had very poor communications skills on the radio. My task loading was very high; but I had plenty of fuel so I took my time preparing the airplane and the crew for landing.contributing to my task loading was that I was a check airman conducting [operating experience] (oe) with a first officer who needed extra oe after more than 40 hours of previous oe. When all preliminary checklists were complete I took back the aircraft and when configured for landing had the first officer run the lg wow system fail landing checklist. On landing all systems were normal. After returning to the gate; maintenance looked through the cmc [central maintenance computer] and found that there was a problem with the nose gear sensor.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An ERJ-190 flight crew performed all required checklists and returned to their departure airport following the failure of the landing gear retraction system.

Narrative: After takeoff the First Officer was unable to raise the landing gear and the 'LG WOW SYS FAIL' EICAS message was displayed. Obstacle clearance was not a factor so after leaving 1;000 FT I handed over the aircraft to the First Officer and told him to accelerate to 200 KTS. The EICAS had cleared so I tried once again to raise the gear only to find that the gear handle would not move. I called ATC and advised that we had a gear problem and requested we level at 5;000 FT and vectors to remain in the area while we ran some checklist. I then got out the QRH and ran the 'gear lever cannot be moved up' procedure followed by the 'LG WOW SYS FAIL' checklist as directed by the previous checklist. The 'LG WOW SYS FAIL' procedure directed us to land at the nearest suitable airport. It also advised that on landing; 'Thrust reversers; steering; ground spoilers; wing anti-ice; and ground idle may not be available.'I advised Approach that we would be returning and that due to possible inoperative reversers; steering; and ground spoilers; we wanted the emergency equipment standing by. I then called the flight attendants and made an announcement to the passengers. I also advised Dispatch of our return to the field. During all this I had to answer numerous ATC calls because my First Officer had very poor communications skills on the radio. My task loading was very high; but I had plenty of fuel so I took my time preparing the airplane and the crew for landing.Contributing to my task loading was that I was a check airman conducting [operating experience] (OE) with a First Officer who needed extra OE after more than 40 hours of previous OE. When all preliminary checklists were complete I took back the aircraft and when configured for landing had the First Officer run the LG WOW SYS FAIL landing checklist. On landing all systems were normal. After returning to the gate; Maintenance looked through the CMC [Central Maintenance Computer] and found that there was a problem with the nose gear sensor.

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.