Originally Posted by bubbers44
Just fly like you were taught over 30 years ago. In the last dozen years button pushing seems to be the new way. AF447 is an example of how well that works. As far as rudder usage in wake turbulence it is a roll problem, not yaw so the AA FO probably used very little rudder no matter what that captain said. The NTSB doesn't always tell the truth.
I’ve known members of the NTSB and their technical staffs for more than 3 decades now, and they’ve always provided the material (for anyone to read) from which they’ve drawn the conclusions they publish. I do recognize that there are times when their conclusions seem to ignore some of the materials they include in their official reports – and I cannot (nor do I intend to) explain those kinds of shortcomings. However, in this specific case, the FDR is pretty clear that either the Captain or the F/O in the cockpit managed to repeatedly displace both the rudder pedals
and the aileron control to (and in some cases it would seem, beyond) the mechanical limits. The A300-600 does not have reversible controls – meaning that if you move the aileron or the rudder surface on the airplane – there is NO movement of the respective cockpit controller. But this airplane DOES record the cockpit controller movements – all three axes, and the rudder pedal movement corresponds exactly with the rudder surface displacement. And to avoid repeating myself (see my previous posts) there is little doubt that someone in the cockpit made 7 aileron reversals and 5 rudder reversals within that 7-second time frame. There is nothing on the CVR to indicate that the Captain was assuming control of the airplane – and, in fact, after the first wing vortex encounter (which, the F/O handled quite professionally and correctly, by the way) the Captain asked the F/O if he had encountered a “bit of turbulence” and it was the Captain on the radios after the initial application of power for takeoff.