Proper Rudder Use

In his seminal book Stick and Rudder, Wolfgang Langewiesche states the rudder “...causes the greatest difficulty for beginners,” and “....even the more experienced pilot often has trouble using it correctly.” Commenting on improper rudder use as a contributing factor in accidents, he states, “In the typical fatal accident, which involves a stall and a spin, misuse of the rudder is almost always partly to blame....”

Michael J. Banner

Tuesday, September 16, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Improper rudder use is a significant factor in fatal stall-spin accidents, often due to pilots incorrectly using ailerons instead of rudder to correct a dropped wing.
At high angles of attack, applying aileron to raise a wing is dangerous as it increases that wing's angle of attack, potentially causing it to stall and lead to a spin.
The correct control input to level wings in high-AoA situations is applying opposite rudder pressure, and pilots should improve their rudder skills through specific training and flight instruction.

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In his seminal book Stick and Rudder, Wolfgang Langewiesche states the rudder “…causes the greatest difficulty for beginners,” and “….even the more experienced pilot often has trouble using it correctly.” Commenting on improper rudder use as a contributing factor in accidents, he states, “In the typical fatal accident, which involves a stall and a spin, misuse of the rudder is almost always partly to blame….”

After a short-field takeoff, the Cessna 172 was pitched to a high angle of attack (AoA) to maintain best-angle-of-climb speed (VX). At 100 feet agl, the left wing dropped slightly, then the airplane rolled left, eventually rolling inverted. It crashed in a nose-down attitude, killing the pilot.