2
$\begingroup$

So if the rudder fails or gets stuck in the “left” position a pilot could open the right door and it would essentially counter the effect?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
11
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ A little, yes, but it's extremely ineffective because it's so far forward. Most small aircraft will fly fine with an inop rudder as long as the rudder isn't stuck in some extreme position. $\endgroup$
    – Ron Beyer
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 23:45
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ How would you open a door and hold it open against a 120 mph wind? $\endgroup$
    – Carey Gregory
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 23:49
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @CareyGregory If your rudder fails (cables snap or gets stuck) in flight, you'd want to get about as slow as you are comfortable going. The rudder is a lot less effective as speeds slow down, so the slower you go, the easier it is to control by other means. But yes, even at 65 knots, the door is very hard to open (and close), I have quite a bit of personal experience with that unfortunately. $\endgroup$
    – Ron Beyer
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 23:53
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @CareyGregory kind of. But more so how would it react to counter the rudder stuck in a certain position $\endgroup$
    – George Clooney In a Mooney
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 0:46
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ "How would you open a door and hold it open against a 120 mph wind? " -- if it's hard to hold open, that's a good thing. Indicates lots of sideforce is being generated. Not unrelated to yaw torque. $\endgroup$
    – quiet flyer
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 1:49

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3
$\begingroup$

In reality, in a strongly- deflected stuck-rudder situation, the pilot would be best advised to forget about the doors and just land the plane, selecting a runway with a strong crosswind component if at all possible. After all, when landing with a strong crosswind, it's not that uncommon to hold the rudder at close to full deflection in the "downwind" direction. If no crosswind runway is available, the pilot will just have to land the plane going a bit sideways-- no problem if the aircraft happens to have tricycle gear, like most do these days.

Obviously, in a stuck-rudder situation, steering corrections must be accomplished entirely via bank angle changes via the ailerons. Keeping the rate of change of aileron deflection (and bank angle) low will help smooth things out.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .