Narrative:

Gear door open light remained on after gear retraction. Gear was recycled; light remained on entire time. Flight attendant's reported excess noise and vibration from the over wing position. Coordinated with departure control to level off at 12;000 and remain in departure control airspace. QRH checklist was accomplished; except for lowering the landing gear. Declared emergency with departure control; requested vectors to return; asked for emergency equipment to be standing by and to coordinate with our company for maintenance to be available to pin gear and close gear doors. Notified flight attendant's; test brief; made PA; advised passengers we would be stopping on the runway while emergency equipment checked aircraft; then maintenance would pin gear and close gear doors before taxiing to the gate. First officer contacted operations asked them to contact dispatch and have maintenance available to meet us on the runway. On downwind we completed QRH procedure extending gear and raising emergency gear extend lever. Gear indicated down and locked with gear door open light remaining on. Visual approach to the runway; landing gross weight approximately 127;500; flaps 40. Normal landing and touchdown; stopped with approximately 8;000 ft remaining. [We] talked to operations to get visual inspection of aircraft; made PA asking passengers to remain seated while being inspected. Maintenance arrived; pinned gear and closed gear doors. Once cleared taxied to the gate.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A MD80 main landing gear doors failed to close after takeoff so an emergency was declared and the flight returned to the departure airport.

Narrative: Gear Door Open light remained on after gear retraction. Gear was recycled; light remained on entire time. Flight Attendant's reported excess noise and vibration from the over wing position. Coordinated with Departure Control to level off at 12;000 and remain in Departure Control airspace. QRH checklist was accomplished; except for lowering the landing gear. Declared emergency with Departure Control; requested vectors to return; asked for emergency equipment to be standing by and to coordinate with our Company for Maintenance to be available to pin gear and close gear doors. Notified Flight Attendant's; TEST brief; made PA; advised passengers we would be stopping on the runway while emergency equipment checked aircraft; then Maintenance would pin gear and close gear doors before taxiing to the gate. First Officer contacted Operations asked them to contact Dispatch and have Maintenance available to meet us on the runway. On downwind we completed QRH procedure extending gear and raising emergency gear extend lever. Gear indicated down and locked with Gear Door Open light remaining on. Visual approach to the runway; landing gross weight approximately 127;500; flaps 40. Normal landing and touchdown; stopped with approximately 8;000 FT remaining. [We] talked to Operations to get visual inspection of aircraft; made PA asking passengers to remain seated while being inspected. Maintenance arrived; pinned gear and closed gear doors. Once cleared taxied to the gate.

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.