An MD11 captain reported temporary loss of roll control which required 'significant force' to overco...

Attributes
ACN	920524
Time
Date	201011
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-11
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Spoiler System
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 136 Flight Crew Total 12000 Flight Crew Type 7100
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Maintenance Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

During descent I noticed the autopilot had difficulty turning and acquiring a heading during vectoring. As I was selecting the hydraulic synoptic page to see that everything was operational; the autopilot spontaneously disconnected. I assumed manual control of the aircraft and found the roll axis of the flight controls to be jammed. I applied significant force to the controls and felt them 'break loose' followed by normal operation and freedom of movement. No emergency was declared and problem documented in the logbook after landing with a detailed verbal debrief to maintenance.the day after the event I checked the aircraft maintenance history and learned they had discovered ice on the flight control cables in the wheel well. I have had several events of this type in both the DC10/MD11 where ice on cables has prevented proper operation of flight controls. Most common seems to be frozen spoiler cables that either prevent the spoilers from actuating or allow the spoilers on one wing to actuate while the other wing panels stay flush causing a severe roll.other than not flying when it is raining; I'm not sure how to prevent this problem.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An MD11 Captain reported temporary loss of roll control which required 'significant force' to overcome. Maintenance discovered ice on the control cables in the wheel wells.

Narrative: During descent I noticed the autopilot had difficulty turning and acquiring a heading during vectoring. As I was selecting the HYD synoptic page to see that everything was operational; the autopilot spontaneously disconnected. I assumed manual control of the aircraft and found the roll axis of the flight controls to be jammed. I applied significant force to the controls and felt them 'break loose' followed by normal operation and freedom of movement. No emergency was declared and problem documented in the logbook after landing with a detailed verbal debrief to Maintenance.The day after the event I checked the aircraft maintenance history and learned they had discovered ice on the flight control cables in the wheel well. I have had several events of this type in both the DC10/MD11 where ice on cables has prevented proper operation of flight controls. Most common seems to be frozen spoiler cables that either prevent the spoilers from actuating or allow the spoilers on one wing to actuate while the other wing panels stay flush causing a severe roll.Other than not flying when it is raining; I'm not sure how to prevent this problem.

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.

An MD11 captain reported temporary loss of roll control which required 'significant force' to overcome. Maintenance discovered ice on the control cables in the wheel wells.