Narrative:

1) on taxi out after 'cleared to configure;' the first officer (first officer) did not get a green box on the left side elevator on his first attempt (both up and down). He reattempted and again the left side would not show green. I attempted and it did show green in both directions. I asked him to try one more time and it did in fact show green. 2) on takeoff roll; when my first officer called 'rotate;' I began a rearward pull on the yoke. The yoke felt heavy and even with continued back pressure the nose wasn't coming off the ground. Eventually I used nose up pitch trim (one small click) and the nose abruptly rotated off the ground. It was a shock to me but the airplane seemed to be flying ok after that. After a brief level off we were given a climb. As I pulled back on the yoke to initiate the climb it felt heavy again. Once again I used one small click of nose up trim and the nose abruptly rotated up. It was enough to startle both of us. After pondering all that had happened; my first officer and I decided the safest course of action would be a return. We didn't want to find out what might happen next.flight control problem with either elevator function; elevator feel; or horizontal stabilizer trim.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Heavy transport flight crew reported a flight control problem with either elevator function; elevator feel; or horizontal stabilizer trim. At rotation speed the aircraft did not want to rotate but a little pitch trim caused an abrupt pitch up. The crew elected to return to the departure airport.

Narrative: 1) On taxi out after 'cleared to configure;' the First Officer (FO) did not get a green box on the left side elevator on his first attempt (both up and down). He reattempted and again the left side would not show green. I attempted and it did show green in both directions. I asked him to try one more time and it did in fact show green. 2) On takeoff roll; when my FO called 'rotate;' I began a rearward pull on the yoke. The yoke felt heavy and even with continued back pressure the nose wasn't coming off the ground. Eventually I used nose up pitch trim (one small click) and the nose abruptly rotated off the ground. It was a shock to me but the airplane seemed to be flying ok after that. After a brief level off we were given a climb. As I pulled back on the yoke to initiate the climb it felt heavy again. Once again I used one small click of nose up trim and the nose abruptly rotated up. It was enough to startle both of us. After pondering all that had happened; my FO and I decided the safest course of action would be a return. We didn't want to find out what might happen next.Flight control problem with either elevator function; elevator feel; or horizontal stabilizer trim.

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.