Date: 201808
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: ZZZ.Airport, US
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Dusk
Aircraft: Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Climb
Aircraft component: Nosewheel Steering
Component problem: Failed
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: First Officer; Pilot Not Flying
Human factors: Troubleshooting
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport
Contributing factors: Aircraft
Primary problem: Aircraft

Narrative: Gear Disagree with steering inoperative during gear retraction after takeoff followed by precautionary landing back at origin airport. Whole story of today: Got report time changed to a later time. While on the escalator down at the airport; we heard PA paging us to go to the gate; then I immediately received a call from Dispatch asking where we were. We said we were supposed to report 45 min past the hour; but apparently the departure time was moved up; but nobody notified us. Hurried and got into the plane; the plane was way too hot; cabin reached 42C. Consulted ramp agents; they said there's no switch of hot/cold; it's based on the outside temp and it switches automatically. Flight Attendants (FA) was there early; and they noticed the cabin temp was way too high; they took actions to notify gate agents; but nothing was done or could be done; external air was still hooked up. The air blowing out was actually hot; but ramp agents said he felt cold air coming out from outside; and this is an ongoing issue with their jetbridge. We had to disconnect the external air and use APU to cool down the cabin. Once 30C was reached we started boarding. At this time we were already late. Taxied out and ready for departure on 23L. During taxi; we noticed the bumps of the aircraft due to uneven airport surface was more prominent; but we thought it's due to our light weight. After the liftoff; I felt the nose wheel was shaking very violently; I recall the procedure to tap on the brakes; but I was certain it's the nose gear; and since there's no brakes on nose wheel; when Captain (CA) asked for gear up; I specifically waited for the vibration to die down; then retracted the gear. About 6 seconds later nose gear wasn't up; followed by a red and aural warning GEAR DISAGREE. CA commanded put the gear down; and I did. CA called for checklist; and as I was pulling out the checklist; steering inoperative caution message showed up. So we then left the gear down; showing three GREEN. As the CA was working on the radio with ATC; I immediately started the procedure to deal with gear disagree issue; and it called for speed no more than 200 KIAS. After finishing the procedure; I asked if he wanna attempt to bring the gear up one more time; CA said go for it. Same problem; so we lowered the gear again; and it's showing three green. We reported the problem to ATC; who was helping us with heading and altitude. We leveled off I believe 4000 ft; and I then proceeded with steering inoperative checklist; problem still persisted. I sent an ACARS message to Dispatch and notified him/her the issues we had and requested to return to ZZZ. Dispatch said ok and we received the re-dispatch authorization. At this time; FA called us and asked if we noticed the sound from the gear; we said yes and we were dealing with it; but at this moment; no emergency was declared; and we expect a normal landing back to ZZZ. Then I ran the numbers for landing and all weights were in the limits. After finishing all the procedures we notified the FA and passengers we had issues and need to return to ZZZ; everything was going as we expected. While on final ATC offered a low approach to check on the gear status; we said we did need that; and we went down to 1500 ft (about 1000 ft AGL); I requested them to check all gear status; especially the nose gear; and pay close attention to nose gear's orientation as if it's actually straight. We notified the cabin our plan of the low approach and ensured this is for an extra layer of safety. After the low approach we pulled up and ATC informed the gear seemed to be down and straight. So we looped around and prepared for the actual landing and informed the cabin to prepare for landing. ATC told us we could take the longer Runway XXR; and asked for souls and fuel on board. Fifty four souls and 12000 lbs of fuel. ATC also said just for precautionary measures; fire trucks will be standing by. We told them we also had steering issues; so we will have to take the last high speed and we won't be able to steer as usual; so our turning capability was severely affected and we needed to stop on the taxiway. ATC said anything we need. As an extra safety measure; we landed and held the nose up; and lowered as gentle as possible. After landing; we used rudder and differential thrust to turn off the runway. At the time Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting was already waiting for us there; and the Tower frequency we used was monitored by them as well. We informed them about our intention to wait; and run checklists; they said they will be following us when we get moving. After the fault reset procedure steering was back; we taxied back to gate without further issues. Documented the issues and contacted Dispatch and Maintenance Control. They told us they most likely will have to ferry someone down there because they have a specific set of things to do when gear disagree issues happen; and Contract Maintenance couldn't do it. They examined the data from ACARS and told me there's supposed to be 8 sensors reporting the gear status; but 4 of them were not working. We then instructed the gate agent the aircraft cannot be towed; and leave it there. Shut down the aircraft and went to gate next door for a new flight to ZZZ1. During the entire event no actual emergency was declared; but was handled with extreme caution; and received lots of help from airport and ATC.




Synopsis: First Officer reported problems with nose wheel steering and gear disagree lights after take off.