B737 MAX 8 flight crew reported vibrations in the flight controls that worsened with increased airspeed. Flight crew diverted to a nearby airport.
Synopsis
B737 MAX 8 flight crew reported vibrations in the flight controls that worsened with increased airspeed. Flight crew diverted to a nearby airport.
Narrative
When I first arrived at the aircraft I checked the logbook and noticed a writeup which stated that the previous Crew felt vibrations during flight. The writeup ended by saying that there might be an airframe issue. Maintenance Personnel checked the aircraft overnight and wrote that they did not find anything wrong and that it was ok to continue. I told the Captain about the writeup; he spoke with Company Maintenance; and they were aware of the issue. He informed the Flight Attendants of the issue and to let us know if they notice any unusual vibrations during flight. I performed a walkaround and only noticed a small piece of paint missing (no damage) from the number 16 fan blade on the number 2 Engine. The Captain sent the picture to Maintenance and they told us that it was normal; and it was ok to continue. I was the Pilot Flying. Shortly after takeoff; while hand flying and accelerating to 250 knots; I noticed a vibration in the yoke. I told the Captain and asked if he would like to feel it. We transferred control to him. He said he felt the same. The Captain transferred control back to me. As we continued and accelerated; the vibration got worse the faster we went and turned into a steady shaking. We could also feel a strong buzz/vibration in the rudder pedals. I commented to the Captain that it felt like we were flying with the speedbrakes deployed. We noted engine vibrations were indicating normal and the speedbrake handle was in the fully stowed position. Meanwhile; the Flight Attendants called and said they felt the shaking and it was noticeably worse in the back of the aircraft. We asked if they felt it was safe enough for them to see if the speed brakes were deployed (we again confirmed the speedbrake handle was stowed) and they said yes and that they didn't see anything up on the wing. We got to cruise at 34000 ft. and I told the Captain I would try slowing to see if the vibration continued. We slowed to about .74 and the vibration slightly reduced but was still noticeable. Meanwhile the Captain spoke with Company Maintenance. As he did that; I looked through the QRH and found the Elevator Tab Vibration Checklist. The conditions in the checklist matched what we were feeling. We decided to run that checklist. The checklist eventually said to consider landing at the nearest suitable airport. We decided to divert; as a precaution; to ZZZ1; as it was only about 100 miles away. We briefed the diversion information items on the checklist card; informed Dispatch; and ran all remaining checklists. The remainder of the flight was uneventful.Suggest possibly test flying an aircraft before returning it to service when a Crew Member reports abnormal vibrations or 'airframe issues' in flight without any indication as to why the vibrations are occurring.
Second reporter narrative
During climbout as the aircraft was accelerating there was a noticeable vibration felt in the control column and rudder pedals. As we increased to our FMC climb speed above 10;000 feet 303 knots we felt an increase in the vibrations. I reached out to our Flight Attendants and they indicated that they felt a rumble in the aft of the aircraft. I asked them to go have a look out of the windows over wing and see if they could see anything abnormal. We discussed this with them while on the ground before departure as the aircraft was written up the night prior by the terminating crew. I had spoken with maintenance. The flight attendants said that everything appeared normal. Both my first officer and I felt that slowing the aircraft down would help reducing the vibration. At this point we were abeam ZZZ2 and I reached out to dispatch and maintenance control and had a lengthy conversation about our event. At this point we hadn't found a checklist that would apply. After we hung up with them we found in the QRH the Elevator Tab Vibration checklist and felt that all of our symptoms fit within that checklist. We complied with the QRH; ran our diversion checklist and opted to divert.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.