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Stay On Your Feet

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Proper rudder application is crucial for safe and efficient flight, often overlooked outside of the climb phase.
  • Incorrect rudder use is dangerous, significantly contributing to stall/spin accidents (especially when low and slow or during base-to-final turns) and causing damaging side-loaded landings.
  • Maintaining coordinated flight through correct rudder input enhances safety, improves cruise efficiency, and prevents wear and tear on the aircraft.
See a mistake? Contact us.

We’ve all heard it. “More right rudder!” is such a common command during flight training that some avionics company would probably make a lot of money producing a small device that could transmit the instruction at the push of a button. But just because the most common place for an instructor to address rudder input is during the climb doesn’t mean the pedals should be ignored during the rest of the flight.

Unfortunately, the training airplanes of today are so forgiving that they fly just fine without the proper use of rudder, at least as long as the flight attitude is somewhat stable. And with the exception of the climb phase, it seems that many instructors don’t put enough emphasis on rudder control.

Pia Bergqvist

Pia Bergqvist joined FLYING in December 2010. A passionate aviator, Pia started flying in 1999 and quickly obtained her single- and multi-engine commercial, instrument and instructor ratings. After a decade of working in general aviation, Pia has accumulated almost 3,000 hours of flight time in nearly 40 different types of aircraft.

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