Stuck nose gear on 777
Interesting episode on our trip back to SF from St. Louis. The Denver-SFO leg was on a 777. Everything was as normal as can be till about 20 mins after takeoff. I heard a growling noise which I assumed was either the landing gear being lowered or the flaps being deployed. Both events that shouldnt be happening at that stage in flight. Odd. I was trying to remember the last time I was in a plane that had to return to the airport because of mechanical problems. Sure enough, the aircraft executed a slow bank for seemed like a 360. Few minutes later, the captain came online and said that we were returning to Denver because the nose gear would not retract completely.

I didnt hear if the nose gear was stuck in a semi-retracted state or was locked in full extension and would not retract. The former would not be good. I wondered if the 777 even had a hydraulic manual pump liked in the 172RG to manually extend the gear :). We circled for a bit. Not sure if it was clearance or to burn off some gas so that the touchdown weight is within limits. Thankfully we landed without incident and was escorted to the ramp by fire trucks and airport personnel on either wing and behind. Quite a sight.

It's too bad that they turned off the ATC radio comm that you can hear from the seat (Only on United). It would've been quite interesting to listen on on the exchange between the pilots and ATC as they prepared for the emergency landing.