Operation "Use More Rudder" - Learning To Fly With Rudder

It follows it, huh? Yeah, it's a slightly behind the aileron. I don't even want to say a second It's like a fraction of a second behind the aileron. Hard aileron, then the rudder I'm Jason Miller, a full-time professional flight instructor. On the FinerPoints channel You can join me as I bring you tips and tricks that I've learned from 20 years on the flight line So if you guys follow me on Instagram, you know that I sent a student, I sent Austin for a phase check and He's been doing a lot of stuff lately. He went and he bought a plane back east, a different make and model than the one We've been flying. Anyway, long story short, we threw him into the fire He's been flying for two months and he was ready for a pre-solo phase check and didn't go awesome The issue, the main issue that came up during the phase check was his use of rudder, his use of rudder, his use of rudder His use of rudder. Dan's pretty tough about it I didn't feel as though Austin was Using enough rudder particularly in landings and I think his exact words were the rudder has to be instinctual So it felt like Austin was kind of thinking about it too much. We're gonna get this right So I've been just racking my brain You've probably seen this on my Instagram stories trying to figure out what exercises we can do to make sure that that we really get This right. So I've devised a three-step strategy The first step is what I call Dexterity. The second step is Coordination, kind of sewing it all together and making sure that Austin understands how to stay coordinated Can we land the airplane with the longitudinal axis? Aligned with and over the center line while protecting the nose of the aircraft. So Here we are. Let's get this done So we went to work on this right away I told you we broke down into three phases The first phase was dexterity and here are the two exercises that I had planned for Austin. One of them was pretty simple We're gonna get him looking outside the airplane again So we're gonna dim the PFD and just have him fly all the way out to the practice area without you touching the yoke So just using his feet in the climb that will cause him to use right rudder to mitigate those left turning and rolling tendencies And then he'll he'll just it'll start to get ingrained to turn left You just let up on the on the right rudder a little bit Once it the airplane gets into the bank angle that you want you just reapply a right rudder To come out of it You have to kind of stab at the right rudder to swing one of those wings forward through the air Remember by adding airflow to a wing a secondary effect of that yaw will be lift. So the wing will come back up I'm just kind of getting used to using his feet dexterity was the goal here. And that was the first exercise There you go, you got the controls so if that wing falls Yeah, go ahead. Just use your feet to sort of pick up the wings beautiful just like that Main thing is now to just practice controlling things with your feet. Yep. All right. Good. Let's turn right 20 degrees just using your feet Notice that Austin has his hands available for iPads or charts and his eyes are outside the airplane How would you pick that wing up? Nice Okay, that's great practice It's always great to remind you to look outside the airplane and if you're working on an instrument rating having your hands available will always come in handy With the rudders like that. All right, it's all about the secondary effects because you're swinging that wing through the air You're getting more airflow over it. So, okay, so I don't mean to belabor this point, but look at the way he holds this checklist up It's awesome if you fly like this You'll hold checklists up keep your eyes outside the airplane And if you're working on an instrument rating being able to control the airplane with your feet from time to time will prove very valuable The next step was to actually make a mark on the windscreen and draw shapes using that mark So, you know pitch up or yaw over come back down and yaw back to draw a square and the whole time He does that he has to counteract the secondary effects of the flight controls. It's usually good Just I don't have a marker with me. So pick something on the window You can use some of that crazing or anything that feels like a good solid marker. I think they do. Oh nice Good well, then you can make your own reference. Just make like an X like a like your scope. Do you want it? On the horizon is fine. Yeah Same level. All right. Good. Let's try this. This is just again. It's more dexterity like but this time you're cross-controlling the airplane if you need to So let's start with one that sounds like it'd be pretty easy. Let's just draw a square Okay, so you want me to demo one? Yeah. All right. So I got the airplane. I got the flight controls Yeah, and so I would pitch up say to go up on the square and then right rudder opposite aileron to keep the wings level Then down and then back like that Wow, see right? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah, we're gonna just make some shapes. Okay It right rudder good just enough aileron to keep the wings level then down good then back across nice So now you're using the ailerons to sort of mitigate the secondary effects Okay, so now it was time to actually coordinate the use of the flight controls This is a little bit more subtle and it's the reason we didn't start here But we're gonna slow the airplane way down so that we have you know So we're kind of in slow flight so that we can use large aileron deflections And we'll roll as fast as we feel comfortable and we start just with this Dutch roll exercise We put our feet flat on the floor and roll the airplane back and forth so that we can feel what it's right like to Get it wrong And then we slowly bring in the appropriate amount of rudder to have it feel equal on both sides of our seat First I just want to show you these Dutch rolls. So We're gonna put our feet flat on the floor. Yep. Just roll the airplane back and forth These are called Dutch rolls And what I want you to notice is you're used to looking at that little aiming point Notice that the nose like we said because of the adverse aileron now moves opposite the direction of it, right? So when I go like this the nose goes left when I go like this the nose goes right and try to feel that in Your seat and so here I go left. I should feel the left side. Yep, and I should hear you go, right? I should feel the right side and notice how it's a little after I do it that I feel it Hey, why don't you try that? Just those are Dutch rolls. Don't use rudders. Just as fast as you're comfortable. Just roll back and forth Good Here you go left. Now you feel it on the left side. Yep. There you go, right? Feeling on the right side a little faster use bigger roll rates. There you go like that and then back to the left Feel it on the left side. Do you feel that? I feel it lighter. It gets lighter. It gets heavier on the right. Right now it feels like someone's pushing up on the right. Go hard left. Now it feels like someone's pushing up on the left. I'll go to the right feels like someone's pushing up on the right, but the feeling comes a little bit after The aileron. Let's try to use rudders now. So bring the rudder into it Try to neutralize that feeling in your seat There you go like that now back to the right as fast as you feel comfortable like that good I see Slightly follows it huh? Yeah, it's a slightly behind the aileron. I don't even want to say a second It's like a fraction of a second behind the aileron hard aileron then the rudder come. How's that feeling good? Yeah, it's feeling good to me. Okay, the second exercise we did for coordination was an evasion exercise So simulating we had traffic at 12 o'clock roll into a steep bank turn Go 90 degrees and then come out of the turn really rapidly I noticed from the right seat that many many pilots use rudder rolling into banks But they fail to use rudder rolling out of banks. So this was to try to connect those dots for Austin Remember the exercise we did where there's an airplane at 12 o'clock. We went hard this time They go to the right go hard 90 degrees, right? Good rudder and aileron in good Nice, then come on to that Nice. Yeah, just don't forget that and then left back on course Watch his beautiful use of rudder here to the left to bring the nose with us. I'll play it again. Watch this Right here. It really looks like these exercises are working Want to be better than 80% of the pilots out there. Remember to use rudder when you roll out of the bank I got it. Everybody remembers rolling in but it's the same thing. The airplane doesn't know it's bank. So okay in and out Okay, so things are looking good. We got this far The next step is to take it down to a runway and see if we can control the drift of the airplane And have it kind of be instinctual. So If you want to see the full arrival into Half Moon Bay, it's on the patreon page There's actually got a 35 minute lesson with Austin here pretty much unedited available for patrons But what you're gonna see now is us at Half Moon Bay there wasn't really a crosswind to work with so we had to kind of intentionally line up with the wrong side of the runway and You know use a drift exercise similar to the one that you saw in the video called side slips with Paul Check it out I think the first one I demo it and then Austin gives it a couple tries by the end of this lesson He's doing great. All right, let me take you just for a second. I'm gonna demo this one This is what I want you to do next time. Okay, and Let's just tighten up the screws for the exercise of it and we'll do power off approaches There's power to idle at the abeam and then you'll pitch for each airspeed as you come around, right? We're gonna line up with the wrong side of the runway and then move the airplane to the centerline which requires Introducing a side slip and then also stopping the side slip. Yep. Okay, so it's gonna look like this Already did gumps at the abeam position. We're just gonna go power to idle I'll put in 10 degrees flaps below 110 flaps 10 and then start a down line at 85 I got slow, so I'm gonna catch up on it right now I'm mostly looking for a pitch attitude that gives me a five. There it is There good. Okay about here on the 45. I'll turn right base inside the white arc flaps 20 I'll just keep the same sight picture and hopefully that'll give me 75 So in this way, this will kind of tune up your give you a precision airspeed control You have no choice but to pitch for the speed Alright, here's our key position high low fast slow or 75. We're right on the money I don't think we're low the final approach path is clear again carb heat There isn't any gases on both undercarriages down mixtures full rich and as I turn in on the runway here I'm gonna wait to the last minute because I'm a little high And I'll go full flaps inside the white arc flaps full Now I should look for 65 But I said I'm gonna line up with the wrong side of the runway. So like let's imagine I was lined up over here Okay, all right 65 is in the bag And what I want you to do is sort of at the last minute Is move the airplane in this case to the right? You could line up with the other side too That's gonna be point the ailerons in the direction you want the airplane to move and sort of do it during the flare So here's the flare. I want the airplane with this way I point right push left and then I stop it by pointing left push out right? Yeah, and now I'm on the center line. Yep so Hey, sorry. I was a little too much right rudder. Did you feel that? Yeah. Yeah, good. Yeah, you got the airplane. I got the airplane At the white we're gonna add 20 Have a base Skyhawk 90 November right base for three zero happy bait and because it looks like Little high or low. I mean, sorry. So if you're low just leave flaps where they are. Okay, I Didn't at the six five All right, let's find it so let's happen Bay Skyhawk 90 November final for a three zero half-moon bait then line up with the left or the right just not You're ready to move it See how you're pitching up a little bit. We're getting a little slow. Let's move back toward the center. Okay. Yeah a little power We go it like that good and then stop the motion, can you bring us back down real gentle like All right, so maintain a little more speed and start my flare a little lower And start on the left this time Or some altitude off. Yeah plenty of runway. So don't dive at it. Just hold 65 At least there you go. Good up a little bit. So don't get past. There you go. It's like that Okay. Yeah, and imagine you're you thought that was the center line. Yep. Good looking good. Hey To feel ground effect that's when you want me to go over. Yeah, like right about now. Okay, go ahead and go over Nope, more aileron. Yep. Good. Perfect. And then stop that by going aileron back the other way protect your nose. Not bad Not bad. All right operation use more rudder was a huge success Austin is really really getting it now Rome wasn't built in a day So there's no way that this one lesson is gonna solve the problem But if we repeat this lesson every so often Maybe we do it twice now until he's got it and then come back to it again in a month or so It will really make a huge difference for his flying down the road. I hope you enjoyed this video I want to thank you for watching huge Thanks to the sponsors and to the patrons without that support these videos just wouldn't be possible Come find me on Instagram and learn the finer points visit me on the web and learn the finer points calm You guys are the best fans on the internet. I thank you for downloading this video Please hit the like button subscribe to the channel share with your friends and until next time be safe and fly your best