Emb-145LR flight crew reported they departed with an MEL pertaining to flight controls and in flight...

Narrative:

Late aircraft swap and the new aircraft came from the hangar with an MEL. Prior to departure we did the control check and [it] was normal. On climbout aircraft controls felt a little loose. Autopilot went on within about 2 min after takeoff. Autopilot flew fine in flight. In flight I also made sure I wasn't missing anything associated with the MEL. Talked with the first officer and made the decision to continue to [destination]. Autopilot was disengaged for a visual approach. On the approach we realized that the controls were moving totally independent from one another. I did not think to declare an emergency and less than 5 min later we landed without incident. On the ground we did another control check to make sure we weren't both crazy and sure enough the controls were moving independently from one another.the next time I have this MEL I will probably do 2 or 3 control checks to make sure this doesn't happen inflight. Second guessing myself I could have returned to [departure airport] had I hand flown. I feel it was a bad situation all around with last minute aircraft swap and this plane coming out of maintenance. I also could have declared an emergency for flight control malfunction. This is also my first real malfunction sitting in the left seat and looking back I have already [thought about] what I could have done different. As I write this I realize 10 captains would have done 10 different things. So make a decision and go with it.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145LR flight crew reported they departed with an MEL pertaining to flight controls and in flight they noticed the elevators were not reacting normally to control input.

Narrative: Late aircraft swap and the new aircraft came from the hangar with an MEL. Prior to departure we did the control check and [it] was normal. On climbout aircraft controls felt a little loose. Autopilot went on within about 2 min after takeoff. Autopilot flew fine in flight. In flight I also made sure I wasn't missing anything associated with the MEL. Talked with the FO and made the decision to continue to [destination]. Autopilot was disengaged for a visual approach. On the approach we realized that the controls were moving totally independent from one another. I did not think to declare an emergency and less than 5 min later we landed without incident. On the ground we did another control check to make sure we weren't both crazy and sure enough the controls were moving independently from one another.The next time I have this MEL I will probably do 2 or 3 control checks to make sure this doesn't happen inflight. Second guessing myself I could have returned to [departure airport] had I hand flown. I feel it was a bad situation all around with last minute aircraft swap and this plane coming out of maintenance. I also could have declared an emergency for flight control malfunction. This is also my first real malfunction sitting in the left seat and looking back I have already [thought about] what I could have done different. As I write this I realize 10 Captains would have done 10 different things. So make a decision and go with it.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1366597
Time
Date	201606
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Elevator ControlSystem
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

Emb-145LR flight crew reported they departed with an MEL pertaining to flight controls and in flight they noticed the elevators were not reacting normally to control input.