Narrative:

During climb; found than greater than normal nose down stick pressure required to keep pitch on F/D bar. Continued climb to FL260. During climb still needed stick press nose down what seemed like higher than normal. Same stick inputs required for level flight. Autopilot would hold pitch to maintain altitude. Autopilot disconnect still needed to hold nose down stick pressure to hold alt. Contacted maintenance for any input they my have on our situation. No faults ever displayed on ECAM; status normal. Maintenance showed no abnormal readings from their telemetry. It was agreed by maintenance and the crew that a precautionary landing be made. ACARS dispatch with info on our diversion; they also were ok with our decision. [We] notified flight attendant of our precautionary landing; same with passengers; with emphasis on precautionary. Normal flaps 3 visual landing.maintenance found ELAC2-com or wiring from ACCLRM4 message in the FMGS. Don't know why we didn't get an ECAM message or fault on cockpit display. Some things are just going to happen when dealing with a machine as complicated as the airbus series of aircraft. We as a crew must always assess our threats; no matter how small; and react accordingly. This elac problem never presented itself on the ECAM; is this something that needs to be addressed in training as a problem with ECAM system?

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 First Officer reports abnormal pitch control during takeoff and climb; with continuous forward pressure required on the side stick to maintain constant pitch. Crew elects to divert for maintenance where a faulty ELAC #2 accelerometer is diagnosed.

Narrative: During climb; found than greater than normal nose down stick pressure required to keep pitch on F/D bar. Continued climb to FL260. During climb still needed stick press nose down what seemed like higher than normal. Same stick inputs required for level flight. Autopilot would hold pitch to maintain altitude. Autopilot disconnect still needed to hold nose down stick pressure to hold alt. Contacted Maintenance for any input they my have on our situation. No faults ever displayed on ECAM; status normal. Maintenance showed no abnormal readings from their telemetry. It was agreed by Maintenance and the crew that a precautionary landing be made. ACARS Dispatch with info on our diversion; they also were OK with our decision. [We] notified Flight Attendant of our precautionary landing; same with passengers; with emphasis on precautionary. Normal flaps 3 visual landing.Maintenance found ELAC2-com or wiring from ACCLRM4 message in the FMGS. Don't know why we didn't get an ECAM message or fault on cockpit display. Some things are just going to happen when dealing with a machine as complicated as the Airbus series of aircraft. We as a crew must always assess our threats; no matter how small; and react accordingly. This ELAC problem never presented itself on the ECAM; is this something that needs to be addressed in training as a problem with ECAM system?

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.