Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Commercial
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Aircraft Equipment Problem Dissipated
Aircraft
The preflight was normal; I verified with my student that the aircraft's control services were operable and in an airworthy condition; at the time no defects were noted in the preflight. The student and I then proceeded to go through all of our normal checklists. Everything was normal until the climb at which I noticed my student seemed to be struggling with controlling the wind drift during the climb. At the time I attributed this to the student just needing to work on his control of the aircraft. ATC then began vectoring us for our departure to the west and I didn't think about the wind drift. ATC assigned us a heading of 280 and I noticed my student was again struggling to maintain that heading; I started correcting him and he made it back to his heading. Sometime after that I noticed that my student put both hands on the yoke in order to maintain the heading. I then took control and realized that the ailerons were extremely stiff when attempting to control them to the left.At that point I realized that something must be up and I queried ATC and requested to return to [our departure airport] to land. I did not declare an emergency because in the moment I felt no need to being that I had control of the airplane and felt the flight would be safe. ATC cleared us straight in on XXL and the approach and landing was normal. Upon post flight the ailerons appeared to be normal just as they were in the preflight. I think the takeaway for me is to ask the student next if something doesn't feel right. I assumed the poor heading control was my student and not the aircraft. Next time I will be sure to verify the airplane's controls are functioning properly when I suspect my student may be having issues controlling the aircraft.
C172 flight instructor reported very stiff ailerons in flight that appeared normal prior to takeoff and after landing.