Narrative:

On the right downwind for runway 23 we were given a descent down to 2;600 from 5;000 ft. During the descent the captain asked for flaps 9 degrees. When I selected the flap position the caution light and ding went off signaling on the EICAS that we had 'flap fail.' I checked the backup rmu page for the aircraft systems and saw the flaps were still in the 0 position. We cycled the flaps back to 0 and back to 9 then back to 0 to no avail. Approach gave us a vector to base. We then began the flap fail QRH. At this point we were given a vector to join final and contact tower. Once with tower we advised tower that we were experiencing a problem and needed delay vectors to finish the QRH. Tower advised us to maintain 2;600 ft and circle as necessary to handle the situation. We then completely ran the flap fail QRH. We determined that per the QRH; we had enough runway available to safely completely a flap 0 landing on runway 23 and that a diversion was unnecessary. After completing the in range portion of the QRH; the captain instructed me to declare an emergency with the tower so that emergency personnel would be standing by the runway as a precaution. The captain then informed the flight attendant of the situation and then made a PA to the passengers informing them of the situation and to not worry. Once on final we finished the QRH once the gear came down. We landed safely with no abnormal occurrence other than landing with the flaps 0. We departed with around 300 pounds over release fuel but discovered the problem on downwind with about 2;300 pounds. This made options such as diverting to an airport with longer runways such as iad more difficult.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An EMB-145 EICAS alerted FLAP FAIL as flaps 9 were selected for landing so the crew completed the QRH; declared an emergency; and landed without incident.

Narrative: On the right downwind for Runway 23 we were given a descent down to 2;600 from 5;000 FT. During the descent the Captain asked for flaps 9 degrees. When I selected the flap position the Caution light and ding went off signaling on the EICAS that we had 'FLAP FAIL.' I checked the backup RMU page for the aircraft systems and saw the flaps were still in the 0 position. We cycled the flaps back to 0 and back to 9 then back to 0 to no avail. Approach gave us a vector to base. We then began the Flap Fail QRH. At this point we were given a vector to join final and contact Tower. Once with Tower we advised Tower that we were experiencing a problem and needed delay vectors to finish the QRH. Tower advised us to maintain 2;600 FT and circle as necessary to handle the situation. We then completely ran the Flap Fail QRH. We determined that per the QRH; we had enough runway available to safely completely a flap 0 landing on Runway 23 and that a diversion was unnecessary. After completing the in range portion of the QRH; the Captain instructed me to declare an emergency with the Tower so that emergency personnel would be standing by the runway as a precaution. The Captain then informed the Flight Attendant of the situation and then made a PA to the passengers informing them of the situation and to not worry. Once on final we finished the QRH once the gear came down. We landed safely with no abnormal occurrence other than landing with the flaps 0. We departed with around 300 LBS over release fuel but discovered the problem on downwind with about 2;300 LBS. This made options such as diverting to an airport with longer runways such as IAD more difficult.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.