PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Why to autopilots have no rudder authority?
Old 7th Mar 2011, 23:23
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Plasmech
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
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Why to autopilots have no rudder authority?

I was told recently that autopilots, even on the heavy metal Boeing and Airbus airliners, have no control over the rudder. First off, is this really true? I notice that in simulators, even the more realistic x-plane, I can kick a rudder when the AP is engaged, while I have to fight to move the ailerons and elevator, so it would seem that even the sims have this modeled in.

If this is true, how are coordinated turns done with the AP engaged? Also, wouldn't aircraft with AutoLand need some amount of automated rudder control?

Or...do said aircraft's flight computers use asymmetric spoileron and aileron deployment to induce yaw instead of using the rudder?
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