first off there seems to be some confusion about airliners and controls...I've flown the BAE146, B737, and the DC9 (the best of the lot).
all have some sort of break away on the control yokes or similiar device...that is if ONE part of the control yoke system doesn't function, you move the OTHER yoke hard enough and a clutch between the two yokes disengages and allows one yoke to move...but it only moves a portion of the flight controls...and whether or not they are hydraulically powered doesn't matter at this point in the control system.
having said that:
I flew a piper arrow some 30 years ago and the bicycle chain/sprocket system of aileron/yoke etc came loose..the actual chain jumped the sprocket ( I did find this out after landing).
so I made a long straight in to an airport NOT surounded by thousands of houses, using rudder and we made it.
the way to find out is go up, put the plane into a normal bank...don't move the yoke and press the rudder pedal...of course if you are too slow you might end up on your back in a spin or something, so don't get too slow...use plenty of altitude...I demonstrated stuff like this with my students...indeed I made them learn how to slop through a turn with wings level, just with rudder or in the case of a twin, with assymetric thrust.
maybe you hven't had good instruction so far...find a really old time instructor or designated examiner and get a lesson from him
chances are you don't ram the controls over hard to enter a normal turn, and the idea of all flyings is...if you do something and it don't feel right...stop it! get back to a normal situation.
and yes, if a plane is right out of MX...don't trust anything!!!!!!
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ANDREW, your questions should be addressed by your instructor and if not by him, certainly the chief instructor ofyour school. I will relate this to you...during th early days of flying a CAA inspector (forerunner of the USA FAA) took off in a plane in which the ailerons had been hooked up backwards...he landed using just the rudder for roll/yaw...at that time it was required that the rudder be able to over come the aileron for just such an eventuality...
of course in the 737 there was a rudder hardover that could not be overcome by the crew causing a crash...additional training and procedure helped us overcome this problem.
so:
always check the flight controls prior to takeoff...and LOOK outside the plane and make sure they move in the correct way and return to neutral
rarely in any plane do you need full YOKE/CONTROL throw in normal flight...perhaps for crosswind landings is one possible exception, so you will probaably be able to handle the problems you describe
and if your instructor is very new, maybe he doe3sn't know the answers...find another instructor...and not one who just wants to take you up to scare you
you should not get scared into learning things.
Last edited by sevenstrokeroll; 14th June 2012 at 20:12.