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Question about rudder


jbearnolimits

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I'd suggest you look below at the Real Aviation Tutorials & FAQs section of the forum, under Basic Aircraft Control. Read the answers to "What is "coordinated flight" and how do I use the rudder to achieve it?" You'll get probably more than you want to know, but it answers your questions.

 

In a nutshell, though airplanes vary, rudder is there to eliminate adverse yaw*, which occurs whenever you apply aileron, among other things.

 


* Adverse yaw happens when you apply aileron. The downgoing aileron increases lift on that part of the wing to raise it, and in doing so adds drag, which makes the nose want to swing in the other direction, so you use rudder to counteract that. As you remove aileron, the lift and drag reduce, requiring you to reduce rudder pressure. Just use enough rudder to keep the ball centered. Th upgoing aileron doesn't add drag -- in fact it reduces drag a little.

 

But the sim behavior isn't exactly like the real world, so it's harder to maintain just the right amount of rudder. In addition, in real aircraft you can literally feel your butt slide sideways so that you don't even have to look at the ball, though it takes practice to develop that touch.

 

Another factor that makes various aircraft (real world) different is the amount of aileron travel on each wing. On older aircraft (Cub, Champ, older) the ailerons travel down as much as they travel up. On newer aircraft (C-172, Bonanza, Cherokee, etc.) the downgoing aileron travels maybe a third of the amount that the upgoing one does, thus less drag and less rudder (NOT NO rudder, just less) is needed.

 

But read that article below.

 

Larry N.

As Skylab would say:

Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science!

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Thanks, I will read it. I had seen it before but felt the need to refresh my memory. So it sounds like you basically need to use rudder when you use aileron. So for example in a left turn you would turn the yoke left and use just as much left rudder at the same time. Then as the turn is established and you start to center the yoke you would also start to center the rudder.

 

Am I somewhat correct in that? Basically when you use aileron you use rudder. You want to keep the rudder and aileron "coordinated" together?

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That's roughly correct, keeping in mind that it's not as linear as you make it sound, and there may be occasions when you have to maintain a little rudder by itself, or even a little aileron and rudder in the turn -- depends on the aircraft.

 

Larry N.

As Skylab would say:

Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science!

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