RatheBeFlying said
The present design is an ergonomic trap. The ratio between breakout force and full deflection at high speeds makes rudder next to impossible to modulate.
He's absolutely correct.
During the NTSB investigation of AA587, they had several pilots (including airline and test prilots) run through a series of tests at various airspeeds to see how well the pilots could modulate rudder deflection. Rudder deflection on this type is limited with increasing airspeed by progressively limiting rudder pedal travel. At higher speeds there's only a small difference (forget the exact figures now) between the breakout force and full deflection. The tests showed that beyond a certain airspeed it was no longer possible to modulate rudder travel, as the pedals basically became on-off switches providing either no deflection at all or full deflection. Even the test pilots could not produce a modulated value like 25% rudder deflection at higher airspeeds.
This is not the fault of the pilots, but rather a fault in the design of the rudder travel limiting system on the A310 and A300-600. This is the issue that NTSB wants to address.