Creaking and Groaning Noise Ignored

The flight deck crew of a US Airways Express de Havilland DHC-8-311 (N326EN) that was forced to land at Philadelphia International on Nov. 16 with its nose landing gear retracted had heard a "creaking and grinding noise" when taxiing out of Lehigh Valley International, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Dash 8 sustained minor damage to the aircraft skin and nose gear door when it made the nose gearup landing. The flight was being conducted by Piedmont Airlines for USAir.

In a preliminary report on the incident, the Safety Board says the pilot and first officer of Flight 4551 continued with the flight to Philadelphia as they felt the noise was normal.

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After takeoff, pilots reported that the nose gear took about "three or four seconds longer to retract than the main landing gear." The remainder of the flight was uneventful until they received a red warning light upon nose gear extension on approach to Philadelphia International's Runway 35.

The flight crew then performed a go-around maneuver, not retracting the gear, and departed the airspace to look over their checklist. The flight crew performed the alternate landing gear extension; however the nose gear remained in the wheel well.

The flight crew then flew the airplane by the air traffic control tower so personnel there could look for the nose gear. They reported that the nose gear doors were open but the landing gear was not visible. The flight crew then proceeded to run further checklist to try and extend the nose gear but were unsuccessful.

After several attempts to extend the gear by the alternate gear extension checklist and conferring with the airlines maintenance personnel they elected to return to the airport and perform a nose gear-up landing on runway 27L. The airport rescue and fire fighters responded to the intended runway for landing and applied a foam agent.

The airplane's main landing gear touched down, and the flight crew delayed the nose from touching down until the slowest speed possible. The nose of the airplane made contact with the runway and skidded along the runway for about 525 feet and came to a stop. There was no fire reported and the passengers exited the airplane and were taken to the terminal by an airport bus.

The FAA inspector then looked into the nose wheel well and found the nose gear canted at an angle wedging it in the nose wheel well, using a pry bar, the nose wheel was moved to a normal position and extended freely and locked in the down position. The airplane was then towed to a maintenance hangar and examined. The links on top of the steering column were found to have been broken and pushed upward and the nose wheel over steering pin was still intact.