Landing with a jammed rudder?

Pi1otguy

Pattern Altitude
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
2,477
Location
Fontana, CA
Display Name

Display name:
Fox McCloud

Saw this last week on Discovery. Say the rudder jams in your typical light ASEL. Assuming it jammed somewhere near a neutral position then is this such a dire situation? Is it just me or was this a bit over dramatized?

Somehow, playing with doors is low on the list of "what I want to do" during a control failure.
 
It was f'ing retarded is what it was. Someone should have jammed the rudder up the producer's ass. I turned it off when they said you can't turn without the rudder. Yeah, I see hundreds of thousands of planes lacking ailerons out there.
 
Without having watched the video, a jammed rudder can be a very serious emergency, depending on how far over it is jammed. That said, a reasonably safe landing should be possible with a hardover rudder if you pick a big, wide runway and land going fast enough that you can maintain directional control via the ailerons against the rudder to touchdown. Landing with a crosswind from the side to which the rudder is cocked will also make things easier -- the more crosswind, the better. Of course, after that, it's liable to be Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, especially if the nosewheel is hardover along with the rudder, and you're probably going to at least groundloop it in a taildragger.

And now that I've watched it, they're talking about just not using their feet during flight and leaving the rudder neutral. Based on my instructing experience, thousands of pilots fly their planes like that every day without serious result (even if it is a pretty sloppy way to fly).

And while you can use the doors to provide some yaw control if, say, the rudder cable breaks, there's no real need for that unless your only choice is to land on a narrow runway with a howling crosswind.
 
Last edited:
I've heard of this thing called a rudder...boats and ships tend to have them...does it have anything to do with the footrests in the Frankenkota?

:D
 
I landed with stuck ailerons once. I think I would have rather had a stuck rudder given the choice.
 
Depends alot on the airplane.

Bingo.

I have so much adverse yaw, that the airpane does not actually turn with ailerons alone unless you are willing to wait a while.

But for the landing, make a wheel landing and steer with the brakes.

Picking a narrow road with a fence on one side is probably not the best idea.
 
I've heard of this thing called a rudder...boats and ships tend to have them...does it have anything to do with the footrests in the Frankenkota?

:D

My footrests vibrate too much, so I stopped putting my feet on them. ;)
 
And now that I've watched it, they're talking about just not using their feet during flight and leaving the rudder neutral. Based on my instructing experience, thousands of pilots fly their planes like that every day without serious result (even if it is a pretty sloppy way to fly).

:rofl:

The funny thing was when I was getting my retread, the instructor commented "I like what you are doing with your feet." I was kind of surprised, because I wasn't aware that I was doing anything with them. I guess they remembered on their own...
 
I wouldn't want to have to land with an off-center jammed rudder in any airplane. It would not track straight on rollout unless one was dragging the opposite brake, and if it's got the nosewheel cocked as well, you have that problem, too. Keeping the nose up to avoid the nosewheel's pulling makes the wing take weight off the mains and reduces braking authority. In a taildragger it would be ugly indeed.

Dan
 
I know a glider that landed safely after a mid air mangled the vertical fin and rudder. Constant turning effect, lots of drag, minimal use of the rudder capable.

I was not the pilot in either aircraft.
 
Back
Top