Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
General None Reported / Taken
Aircraft
Late aircraft swap and the new aircraft came from the hangar with an MEL. Prior to departure we did the control check and [it] was normal. On climbout aircraft controls felt a little loose. Autopilot went on within about 2 min after takeoff. Autopilot flew fine in flight. In flight I also made sure I wasn't missing anything associated with the MEL. Talked with the FO and made the decision to continue to [destination]. Autopilot was disengaged for a visual approach. On the approach we realized that the controls were moving totally independent from one another. I did not think to declare an emergency and less than 5 min later we landed without incident. On the ground we did another control check to make sure we weren't both crazy and sure enough the controls were moving independently from one another.The next time I have this MEL I will probably do 2 or 3 control checks to make sure this doesn't happen inflight. Second guessing myself I could have returned to [departure airport] had I hand flown. I feel it was a bad situation all around with last minute aircraft swap and this plane coming out of maintenance. I also could have declared an emergency for flight control malfunction. This is also my first real malfunction sitting in the left seat and looking back I have already [thought about] what I could have done different. As I write this I realize 10 Captains would have done 10 different things. So make a decision and go with it.
Next time we have this MEL; many control checks should be accomplished to ensure the elevator connection. Clearly the one control check we did at the gate was not sufficient. In conclusion; as soon as we noticed a difference in elevator inputs to the yoke on approach; an emergency should have been declared.
EMB-145LR flight crew reported they departed with an MEL pertaining to flight controls and in flight they noticed the elevators were not reacting normally to control input.