MD-80 Series (DC-9-80) Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Troubleshooting; Situational Awareness; Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew FLC complied w / Automation / Advisory; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Declared Emergency; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
I was the pilot flying. On departure my right landing gear unsafe light was illuminated. There was some drag on the airplane as I need rudder to fly the aircraft straight and continue the climb. About 2;500 FT AGL I instructed my First Officer to use the QRH for procedures concerning the abnormal gear indication. All we had at this time was a red right main gear light on. I told Tower I had to level off at 10;000 and may have to return as I had a gear malfunction. The procedure was followed and instructed us to lower the gear which we did. The gear came down the gear door light went out and all appeared normal. The procedure said to raise the gear which again we did. This time the light in the right main gear stayed red as well as the landing door light stayed illuminated and the SPOILER DO NOT USE light came on as well. At this time I was still flying the aircraft and had more than normal rudder input to keep the aircraft straight and level. I flew the aircraft at 210 to 220 KTS during the whole procedure. We put the gear down back down and the right main landing gear light went to green as soon as the handle was in the down position. The gear door light took a while to go out. All indications on the gear appeared normal at this time I elected to declare an emergency and return to departure airport for landing. I instructed the flight attendants to provide the passengers with a briefing and I gave them the briefing. I then used the PA system to instruct and inform the passengers of the situation. I told them we were going to return to land and that I had an unsafe gear indication in the airplane during climb out the gear indication was normal at this time. I told them the fire trucks would be seen meeting the aircraft upon landing and this was a normal response to make sure every one is safe. And please follow the instructions of a uniformed crew member. All normal checklists were accomplished and we choose a ten mile final to land on the runway. The landing was made with the left gear touchdown first followed by the right main gear touching down. The gear light in the right side did flicker when we touched down and I gently lowered the nose to the runway and use thrust reversers and left side braking to stop the aircraft. The roll out and landing were uneventful and the fire trucks meet us on the runway and everything was normal. I asked for maintenance to come out to the runway to pin the right main landing gear as I did not want to taxi the aircraft until it was pinned. We returned to the gate and everything else was normal.
It was brought to our attention that a passenger claimed to have heard the word 'crash' over the PA system. At no time was the word 'crash' used by the Captain or myself. All that was said was that we needed to make an emergency landing back at the departure airport due to a landing gear issue and that fire/rescue vehicles would be meeting the aircraft on the runway to check for damage. We were unable to monitor the flight attendant's PA announcements during the flight.
A MD-80 right main landing gear indicated unsafe up after takeoff so the QRH was followed and a safe indicating was seen. An emergency was declared and the flight returned to the departure airport with the SPOILER DO NOT USE light on.