Narrative:

Dual partially jammed control columns. Not sure what caused this event; maintenance is currently still working on the aircraft.during descent; first officer flying; passing through the mid FL200s; I noticed as the plane made a right turn that yoke was stuttering; then made a snap noise; then turned right; as the plane rolled back to wings level the same happened in opposite direction. I watched this happen within a couple seconds again and we agreed something wasn't right. I took the controls; turned off the autopilot; and tried a turn and had the same thing happen. The yoke would stop which ever direction I tried to turn. I asked the first officer to see if he had smooth controls and he had the same results. I retook the controls and quickly realized if enough pressure was applied we could snap past the jam (not very desirable; to get past the jam took good pressure and once past; the plane would snap into a turn). At this point I gave the controls back to the first officer. Took a look through the QRH to see if maybe there was something in there. We [advised ATC]; notified dispatch via ACARS and landing at the [scheduled destination]. I informed the flight attendants of the situation and to prepare for an emergency landing. We asked center for a heading that would give us a straight line to [destination] to avoid turns. I then contacted maintenance over the radio to see if they maybe had an idea of what we could do to resolve this; they could not come up with a solution either. When we got to [destination] we asked for an extended downwind; so we could assess the situation at slower speeds. At this point we were doing 250 kts and still had the same control problems; and any turn jerked the plane. Slowing down on the downwind somewhere between 220 and 230 we tried the controls again and the jam was not there (was still there when we turned downwind; roughly at 240 250 kts). Since the jam was not present at this time; we asked to turn in for the airport and landed safely; turned off the runway; crash fire rescue equipment inspected the plane and cleared us to continue to the gate; and they would follow us. Called ramp for our gate and they turned us away. Called ops to tell them we needed a gate; and were told 30 minutes. I informed ops we had the fire department waiting behind us and needed a gate (got no response). 5 minutes later we received a new gate.if the jam would have remained; landing would have been interesting; as to keep wings level; we would have had to snap the yoke past the jam; which would have put the wing well into a bank causing it to strike the ground. The first officer and flight attendants did an excellent job of remaining calm and continuing to do their jobs.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-175 flight crew reported partially jammed ailerons on descent. The anomaly cleared itself for unknown reasons during final stages of approach.

Narrative: Dual partially jammed control columns. Not sure what caused this event; Maintenance is currently still working on the aircraft.During descent; FO flying; passing through the mid FL200s; I noticed as the plane made a right turn that yoke was stuttering; then made a snap noise; then turned right; as the plane rolled back to wings level the same happened in opposite direction. I watched this happen within a couple seconds again and we agreed something wasn't right. I took the controls; turned off the autopilot; and tried a turn and had the same thing happen. The yoke would stop which ever direction I tried to turn. I asked the FO to see if he had smooth controls and he had the same results. I retook the controls and quickly realized if enough pressure was applied we could snap past the jam (not very desirable; to get past the jam took good pressure and once past; the plane would snap into a turn). At this point I gave the controls back to the FO. Took a look through the QRH to see if maybe there was something in there. We [advised ATC]; notified Dispatch via ACARS and landing at the [scheduled destination]. I informed the flight attendants of the situation and to prepare for an emergency landing. We asked center for a heading that would give us a straight line to [destination] to avoid turns. I then contacted Maintenance over the radio to see if they maybe had an idea of what we could do to resolve this; they could not come up with a solution either. When we got to [destination] we asked for an extended downwind; so we could assess the situation at slower speeds. At this point we were doing 250 kts and still had the same control problems; and any turn jerked the plane. Slowing down on the downwind somewhere between 220 and 230 we tried the controls again and the jam was not there (was still there when we turned downwind; roughly at 240 250 kts). Since the jam was not present at this time; we asked to turn in for the airport and landed safely; turned off the runway; CFR inspected the plane and cleared us to continue to the gate; and they would follow us. Called ramp for our gate and they turned us away. Called ops to tell them we needed a gate; and were told 30 minutes. I informed ops we had the fire department waiting behind us and needed a gate (got no response). 5 minutes later we received a new gate.If the jam would have remained; landing would have been interesting; as to keep wings level; we would have had to snap the yoke past the jam; which would have put the wing well into a bank causing it to strike the ground. The FO and flight attendants did an excellent job of remaining calm and continuing to do their jobs.

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.