PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Use of rudder in turns
View Single Post
Old 15th Nov 2008, 11:11
  #1 (permalink)  
DavidHoul52
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: London
Age: 71
Posts: 339
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Use of rudder in turns

I have returned to Wolfgang Langewiesche's book "Stick and Rudder" after putting it aside for a while and have been pleasantly surprised to find some great information on turns. I had always thought - and I can't remember my FI correcting me - that one applied rudder throughout a turn in order to stop slipping. According to the author one should only use rudder when rolling in or out of a turn - while banked the aircraft does not need rudder and in fact use of the rudder causes it to descend and has to be compensated by excessive back pressure.

Moreover, the excessive back pressure can lead to the wing stalling and a resulting spin. This is especially noticeable in steep turns. I wondered why mine were always going haywire! If one centres the rudder when banked at the desired angle steep turns are easy.

Any comments?
DavidHoul52 is offline