B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240; Flight Crew Total 18500; Flight Crew Type 2401
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Aircraft
The FO (First Officer) and I reviewed the maintenance history which had several instances of problems with the elevator feel system. The latest write up had been several days prior when LM (Line Maintenance) replaced the Elevator Feel computer. My FO flew the first leg and did not complain about the elevator feel. On this leg; I was the pilot flying. When I did the flight control check; I noticed that the elevator feel was heavy; but not enough to make me come back to the gate. On takeoff; I noticed that when I pushed the yoke forward at the beginning of the takeoff roll; that it took a large force to move the yoke. I mistakenly thought that my FO had held the yoke so that it could not be pushed forward. After discussing that later; he said that he had not touched the yoke. It was my misunderstanding. In flight; during the climb; the aircraft felt like it was almost in manual reversion (in pitch) during the climb; but it was fully controllable. The autopilot engaged with no issues. On the descent; I turned off the autopilot so I could get a feel for what to expect. There were no controllability issues; but I did notice that there was minimal elevator displacement regardless of the amount of yoke forward or back input. I was able to put in nearly full nose down and full nose up inputs on the yoke. The airplane responded in the proper direction; but with minimal movement in that direction. I felt that despite the non-normal response from the airplane; it was always in complete control. Therefore; I did not declare an emergency. I had a similar situation flying the DC-10 20 years ago where the elevator feel system failed in high speed mode and resulted in the same minimal elevator displacement mode. I was confident that this was a similar failure.I landed with no further issues. [Maintenance] met us and I debriefed them. The next day; I followed up and they told me that they had found a significant amount of water in the elevator feel pitot tubes on the vertical stabilizer. They signed off the airplane and it flew out last night.
B737 Captain reported an elevator feel malfunction. Post flight maintenance inspection revealed a significant amount of water in the elevator feel pitot tubes on the vertical stabilizer.