Light Sport Aircraft
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 68; Flight Crew Total 532.6; Flight Crew Type 3.9
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Aircraft
A student that owned his own light sport airplane; with a current Sport Pilots License was being trained by myself in the pattern. We had a number of successful landings. Winds were 280-300 with around 6 knts of wind. We opted for Runway XX at ZZZ. We were practicing approaches with different flap settings. This aircraft has flaperons. We planned to do one more landing to a full stop. On the downwind my student told me that his controls were stuck and did not have lateral control. I took over the controls and confirmed this. The lateral control was down to about 5% of what is normally available; and felt very 'notchy'. This concerned me because I did not want to break them any further. I contacted Tower; let them know we had a control surface issue; and needed to land. I opted to land with no flaps; to not risk making the situation worse with the flaperons. with a combination of limited lateral movement and rudder I managed to get us onto final of [Runway] XX. As  I slowed; I noticed I had less movement available to me. I was able to keep the runway lined up and came in fast. Once I was in ground effect I had effectively zero lateral control. None the less; I had an uneventful landing and was able to taxi to the ramp. The plane is going to get looked at by a mechanic. However I want to bring up how this could be helped in the future. In training we practice engine out emergencies a lot; but never control surface issues. I will be implementing it into my training with students; and maybe should be implemented into the ACS.
Light sport aircraft Instructor reported an uneventful landing due to inflight loss of later control.