Stiff Elevator

[Ringway Flyer]

In hot weather, the elevator control and also the trimmer become quite stiff to operate, making landing a bit difficult - i.e., small control inputs tend need a fair amount of effort resulting in more movement than intended. The aircraft is an Archer III. Anyone else experienced this? Is it in anyway symptomatic of imminent total seizure? (Could be interesting...)

[stevef]

Only in hot weather? The first thing I'd check would be cable tensions, although they'd have to be very high to cause that amount of stiffness. Do you hear any creaking from the tailplane on your pre/post flight checks that might indicate interference or damaged stabilator bearings?
Sometimes notchiness can be caused by the control handwheel tube being dirty and dragging slightly in the support bearings. That wouldn't affect the stiff trim, though.
A trip to the hangar, I reckon, RF.

[barit1]

Only during landing flare (full up elevator)? Or in cruise flight too?

[glhcarl]

Ringway Flyer,

First thing you should do is disconnect the cables from the elevator. Then move the cable run and the elevator, this will tell you if the binding in in the cable run or a bad bearing in the elevator. If its in the run it could be a bearing in a pulley or a frayed cable where it runs around a pulley. Simple if you isolate the moving parts

[Ringway Flyer]

Thanks for your comments. It's there all the time, not just when landing. It is, hopefully, being investigated this week. If not, I'll have a look myself. (It's not my machine, so I need to discuss any action with the owner). I was just a bit concerned that the stiffness could indicate a potentially dangerous situation if not attended to - apart from not being very nice to fly.

[ericferret]

Looked into a reported stiff elevator controls on a C152, found one cable worn and broken down to a few strands. Not a pretty picture.