Rudder Skills

The Question:

My student seems to have a hard time working the rudder properly. Is there anything I can do to help this on the next lesson?

My Thoughts:

For the next flight, it's time for a rudder coordination exercise. During the preflight briefing and in the air, advise the student that you are "putting on your instructor's hat at times during this lesson." Ensure during the briefing that the student understands rudder theory, adverse yaw, and practical rudder use.

Inflight, conduct the clearing turns, have the student line up on a handy landmark, and start working the rudders. Make sure she is sitting upright in her seat, remind her to feel the aircraft weight down her spine and through to her tush. Step on a rudder pedal hard. Ask her which butt cheek has the weight on it. Re-center. Ask again. Step on the other pedal, hard. Ask again. Now direct the focus outside. What is the nose doing as you step, center, step?

Have her try it.

Clearing turns.

Now, lined up on a good landmark, go from cruise to slow flight, then back to clean, keeping the nose lined up. Then change configurations, each time, "don't let that nose move! It's moving! Stop that nose!" Back to cruise, start a descent, 500 fpm down. "I saw that nose moving!" Recover, climb, recover, down again, rinse & repeat until the nose is wired to where it belongs.

Then add configuration changes to the climbs and descents. Next work airspeed changes with configuration changes with climbs and descents.

If you think she's getting good, have her roll in and out of turns. The first time, you'll have to look carefully yourself, but if she's turning left, you'll probably see the nose walk off to the right. "What's causing that?" The answer is not "not enough rudder," the answer is "adverse yaw" and the action is "more of the proper rudder."

If the nose does not initially walk off in the opposite direction, you may need to demonstrate, even exaggerate with the other rudder to get the nose to walk.

Practice that skill for a while. You know it is time to move on when the light bulb is shining brightly overhead and your student is smiling confidently.

Now, if you've been an especially devious instructor and still working on your student’s independence, you have managed to fly out of the practice area and are over a somewhat unfamiliar area, away from complicated airspace. At the appropriate time, announce "Great job. I'm taking off my instructor's hat now. Let's go home." Fold your arms, lean back, close your eyes, and shut up. A yawn is optional. After counting to sixty, you can open your eyes and pretend to be a passenger, albeit not a too distracting one. Observe what develops, although you can offer a lifeline or two, and an occasional, “is that your final answer?” Remember, this flight training stuff is supposed to be fun.

Follow-up practice would include a brief series of rudder coordination exercises in the practice area, to be repeated when rudder skills start to diminish. Another is a trip to an airport with strong crosswinds, to work approaches to the runway with the strongest crosswinds. Landing may or may not be advisable, and if you do land, if the winds are near the max demonstrated crosswind, come to a full stop before attempting to turn. You will feel the wind attempting to weathervane the aircraft.