PC-12
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
While on the ground doing the before-takeoff checklist; during the control check; [the First Officer] experienced the elevator's 'catching' on something. He had turned the [yoke] left; pulled it back; turned it right; and was pushing it back in; when; about half way in on the forward push; the elevator got noticeably stuck for a moment. Pushing it more forcefully caused it to go forward. He then did this check a second time; and when it got caught again; he held it there and asked me to feel it. I felt exactly the same thing: the control was hung up; and when I pushed it harder; it released.We then tried repeatedly to get the control to duplicate this phenomenon; but were unable.This echoes precisely [a previous experience]; when I experienced the 'catch' during my control check on the ground. I remarked on it to [First Officer] at the time; but since after the second time it seemed to have cleared up; we decided that it must have been an anomaly; was fine; and we continued.Since then we have flown numerous legs and done even more control checks without incident and without experiencing this catching/sticking. However; when it happened again this morning; we decided that there may actually be something either loose or in the way somewhere that could be a dangerous issue. The possibility of its sticking in the air and then not releasing would be catastrophic.In retrospect; it may have been wise to have canceled our flight the first time it happened; two days ago. But we were convinced at the time that there was no issue; an anomalous defect that had cleared and couldn't be duplicated. When it happened a second time; though; we felt sure that it needed to be addressed with maintenance.
PC-12 Captain reported he and the First Officer had noticed an anomaly during the before-takeoff flight control check; involving a 'catch' in the elevator movement.