A B757-200 flight crew reported play in control yoke pitch inputs.

Attributes
ACN	942502
Time
Date	201104
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	MIA.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B757-200
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Elevator Control Column
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

After departure I noticed the yoke/elevator seemed to have a little travel in it before the aircraft would respond. I had the first officer try it and he agreed with me although he mentioned that he has had that on occasion in the B757. We were at approximately 300 KTS in the climb. Autopilot functions as well as all other lateral controls seemed normal. On approach to our destination the sloppy control seemed to be more pronounced; although we were much slower; approximately 180 KTS down to approach speed of 131 KTS. [We] landed with no problems [and] entered [discrepancy] into logbook.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757-200 flight crew reported play in control yoke pitch inputs.

Narrative: After departure I noticed the yoke/elevator seemed to have a little travel in it before the aircraft would respond. I had the First Officer try it and he agreed with me although he mentioned that he has had that on occasion in the B757. We were at approximately 300 KTS in the climb. Autopilot functions as well as all other lateral controls seemed normal. On approach to our destination the sloppy control seemed to be more pronounced; although we were much slower; approximately 180 KTS down to approach speed of 131 KTS. [We] landed with no problems [and] entered [discrepancy] into logbook.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.