{"id":5740,"date":"2014-06-05T06:19:23","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T13:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=2879"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:56","slug":"105-rudder-usage-three-experts-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/105-rudder-usage-three-experts-2\/","title":{"rendered":"#105 \u00a0Rudder Usage from Three Experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

If there is one control that the beginning tailwheel pilot has difficulty with, it\u2019s the rudder.\u00a0 I can\u2019t tell you how often I hear a student say of the airplane, \u201cIt just doesn\u2019t go the way I want it to!\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that they feel that way, but the instructor never seems to have that trouble and can always bail them out and get the airplane straightened out again.<\/p>\n

It occurred to me to take a look back at some of the advice I received when I was a student pilot. As I look back, three sources stick out in my mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"roll<\/a>
Bill Warren<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bill Warren was a gifted instructor.\u00a0 I\u2019d forgotten this little hint from Bill, but Jim Boeckl reminded me of Bill\u2019s technique of \u201cRudder Flutter\u201d.\u00a0 That\u2019s the technique where the pilot simply keeps up a rapid back and forth or \u201cfluttering\u201d movement of the rudder and during that flutter, simply favors the direction that he wants the plane to go.\u00a0 I don\u2019t teach this technique, but I\u2019ve seen it used and for some pilots, it works great.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Holberton<\/a>
George Holberton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I took my first dual in a tailwheel aircraft, it was from George Holberton.\u00a0 Known more for shooting off the kneecaps of misbehaving skydivers than for being a flight instructor, George was pretty good at the latter.\u00a0 He pointed out to me that if, while on the ground, \u00a0the plane started moving in one direction, I should apply opposite rudder ONLY until the unwanted motion stopped.\u00a0 At that moment, I should neutralize the rudder.\u00a0 George\u2019s technique makes a lot of sense because it tends to prevent that process of \u201ccorrecting the corrections\u201d.\u00a0 It keeps the pilot from over-correcting and then having to apply the other rudder to stop the movement which he has caused.<\/p>\n

Of course, Wolfgang Langewiesche\u2019s great book, \u201cStick and Rudder\u201d is the primary source that colored my thinking, not only about rudder usage, but many other aspects as well, particularly comparing an airplane\u2019s \u201cGaits\u201d to a horses.\u00a0 Langewiesche is still the pre-eminent expert on the rudder and its proper usage.<\/p>\n

\"Langewiesche<\/a>
Wolfgang Langewiesche<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So there you have it.\u00a0 You may never hear these three aviation artists mentioned in the same breath again.\u00a0 But you did here at the Tailwheeler\u2019s Journal.<\/p>\n

Happy Fluttering\u2026 and hang on to those kneecaps!<\/p>\n

Brian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“If there is one control that the beginning tailwheel pilot has difficulty with, it\u2019s the rudder. I can\u2019t tell you how often I hear a student say of the airplane, \u201cIt just doesn\u2019t go the way I want it to!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30,35,67,79,165,178,199],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}