Narrative:

On take off gear selected up and nose gear would not retract. Not just indication problem nose gear was not fully retracted as made evident by wind noise as well as gear disagree warning message. I being the pilot not flying completed the emergency checklist while the first officer flew the aircraft and handled ATC communication. I selected the gear down per checklist and land at nearest suitable per checklist. Gear indicated down and three green at that point. I elected to fly the aircraft and declared emergency and made a normal landing at our departure airport. After being inspected by the emergency command for any obvious damage; we proceeded to the gate. During the post flight I did not note any obvious damage or abnormalities. Wrote up the discrepancy and turned it over to maintenance. We were assigned another aircraft and completed the flight about 1.5 late.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ900 crew experienced a failure of the nose gear to retract after takeoff. QRH procedures were complied with; an emergency declared; and flight returns to departure airport for a normal landing.

Narrative: On take off gear selected up and nose gear would not retract. Not just indication problem nose gear was not fully retracted as made evident by wind noise as well as gear disagree warning message. I being the pilot not flying completed the Emergency checklist while the First Officer flew the aircraft and handled ATC communication. I selected the gear down per checklist and land at nearest suitable per checklist. Gear indicated down and three green at that point. I elected to fly the aircraft and declared emergency and made a normal landing at our departure airport. After being inspected by the emergency command for any obvious damage; we proceeded to the gate. During the post flight I did not note any obvious damage or abnormalities. Wrote up the discrepancy and turned it over to Maintenance. We were assigned another aircraft and completed the flight about 1.5 late.

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.