B737-700 flight crew reported a dead band in the controls and unresponsive aileron control on takeoff. The flight crew made an air turn back and precautionary landing at departure airport.
Synopsis
B737-700 flight crew reported a dead band in the controls and unresponsive aileron control on takeoff. The flight crew made an air turn back and precautionary landing at departure airport.
Narrative
Taking off Runway XX for the first flight of the day. This aircraft had a write up about excessive dead band in roll control in flight which was cleared by Maintenance. 30 ft. above ground I felt something is not right; and I felt my aileron had no authority. The aircraft jerked twice and was not responsive. Upon reaching 1000 ft; retracted the flaps and accelerated to 210 kts. During a turn to the left again; I felt the aircraft was not turning the way it should; even when I had good control column input. I remember reading the logbook about dead band in roll movement and realized I was in the same situation. Climbed to 8;000 ft. and asked for a few different headings from the Departure Controller to see if is getting better but no change. The turn was either sluggish to one side or sharp to the opposite side. Tried to get a phone patch to Maintenance Controller with no luck. Sent ACARS message to Dispatch and was given an instruction to land. On final approach I had 10 to 15 degrees right aileron input to maintain the final approach course. Landing was uneventful.
Second reporter narrative
The Captain and I were performing originating Flight XXXX ZZZ-ZZZ1 on a very cold morning. On preflight we noticed a recent closed write up in the logbook involving roll control relating to a dead band in the ailerons on Day 0 and took note. On the walk around I noticed a fluid drip/leak on #2 Engine requiring an engine run per Maintenance Control prior to flight to ensure the leak didn't get worse. The leak stopped with the engine run. This event is unrelated to the event but added to our pre-departure duties. Engine start and pre-takeoff duties all normal. The flight control check felt normal on our Before Taxi Check. In fact we cycled through the control check approximately 3 times to circulate the hydraulic fluid being the first flight of the day and sub-freezing ambient temperature. The wind on take-off was 300@11 kts per Tower; a slight right crosswind to Runway XX.They gave us a heading of 260 degrees; a vector; with the take-off clearance. Immediately after rotation the Captain commented on the abnormal mushiness and lack of roll control. We cleaned up the aircraft at 1000 ft. and very gradually turned to a heading of 260 out of caution and to get a feel for what was actually occurring and continued to climb. Departure Control gave us a southerly heading; the Captain; cautiously banked the aircraft and maintained a controlled turn but still experiencing the non-linear roll in the control wheel. After rollout we tried engaging the autopilot. After a couple tries; the autopilot took the aircraft for a second then disengaged and put the aircraft in CWS (Control Wheel Steering) modes bank and pitch. We re-activated the flight modes Heading and Level Change to continue hand-flying the climb out of around 4000 ft. at this point.Departure cleared us direct to an eastbound fix on our route. After making the slow turn; we agreed to level off and start communicating a plan of action to make a return to ZZZ as the aircraft felt UNSAFE to fly and continue. We requested a heading and altitude while we sorted things out. We contacted Ops to relay messages to Dispatch our problem and get a phone patch. The phone patch I guess wasn't capable with ZZZ Ops for some reason and communicated through ACARS with Dispatch of our problem and intentions. They seemed onboard with our decision to return. We let the Flight Attendants (FAs) know about our return as well as an appropriate PA to the passengers. We requested and received radar vectors for the visual back to Runway XX after briefing; setup; and landing performance and checklists were performed. With the aircraft under safe positive control; we elected to not declare an emergency. Approach and overweight landing uneventful but required extra control and vigilance with the manual reversion like aileron control. Logbook entries were made.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.