Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
General Maintenance Action; General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted
Aircraft; Procedure
This aircraft had been written up by the previous crew for having a very heavy control wheel feel. Maintenance personnel had come to the aircraft and cleared the discrepancy claiming it was within tolerances. When my crew took the aircraft; we noticed the same strong resistance on the control wheel. I noted that I could not pull the wheel back to full up or push the wheel full forward; turn the wheel left or right with one arm. It took two arms to do it. That is not within any tolerance; written or not written. My FO noted the same thing. Maintenance tech came to the aircraft and showed us his test which we did. He said it passed his written test procedures. However; nowhere on the test does it indicate how much force is normal; nor how to even measure it. I do know that with nearly 10;000 [hours] of PIC in these planes that the forces needed to move that control wheel were excessive. In my professional judgment; I deemed the aircraft to have an issue that needed attention and that the aircraft was not safe to operate.The threat was that I did not feel safe flying an airplane which I could not freely and safely manipulate the flight controls. In addition; the Chief Pilot on call told me that the reason the aircraft was going to airport ZZZ was to address this issue. I felt like he was trying to get me to accept the aircraft and get the flight out. I did not think it safe to continue. Why didn't maintenance personnel even inspect the tail assembly? It came out of maintenance; isn't it possible that something could have been binding or not put in properly?
CRJ-700 Captain is assigned an aircraft that had been written up by the previous crew for having a very heavy control wheel feel and Maintenance Personnel had cleared the discrepancy claiming it was within tolerances. The Captain finds the pitch and roll forces to be beyond his tolerances and refuses the aircraft.