Misuse of the rudder while flying – usually too little or none at all – is a sure sign that some aviation educator failed their student during initial training. This sloppy “flat foot flying” or “driving an aircraft” is sometimes a symptom of a burned out CFI who has just “given up” and does not care any more. This CFI is tolerating sloppy flying out of frustration (“whatever!”). But it is also true that some CFIs were themselves taught badly and cannot sense or teach accurate rudder usage. There are easy exercises to teach rudder (standby for that…) but first, every pilot has to appreciate that lack of correct rudder usage is the heart of unsafe flying. Improper yaw control leads directly to loss of control accidents in the pattern (57% of fatals) – we touched on this elsewhere. This article however is “Rudder 101;” providing CFI resources to build appreciation and proper usage of this misunderstood and underutilized control. A pilot without yaw control does not understand the most basic principles of flying; they are still “driving the plane” and it isn’t pretty or safe. As professional aviation educators, we can fix this. (And if you are a pilot reading, there is great benefit here for you also)
To clearly define terms for this discussion, by “driving an airplane” I mean just cranking the yoke or deflecting the stick like an automobile without correcting for adverse yaw with the rudder. And it is obviously much harder to successfully rehabilitate a “numb butt” than to initially teach accurate, correct rudder usage. Step one is creating and illustrating the aerodynamic principles and developing an appreciation for the *need* for correct rudder; some pilots do not detect their slip/skid flying and cannot understand the need (“My plane does not require any rudder…”). Entrenched habits and lack of caring about rudder usage require serious unlearning first to make any progress at all; “no need no sale.” Then, every pilot initially learning, rusty relearning, or continuing proficiency has to overcome their “driving habit” (we all drive much more than we fly). In a normal syllabus, accurate and appropriate rudder usage has to begin during flight lesson #1; “demonstrate that flying is clearly and demonstrably NOT driving!”
So when your new student (or your recovering “flat foot flier”) is up at altitude in the airplane, please demonstrate an extreme “driving turn” with no rudder and make the problem obvious! If you crank the yoke (deflect the ailerons) aggresively in one direction (fast and furious) the nose predictably yaws off in the opposite direction (a prebrief. on adverse yaw obviously helps to create this “step one” understanding). A couple of these gyrations aggressively applied might also induce a bit of nausea (and that might be a “good thing” – uncoordination makes me sick in a plane!) Next, illustrate a well coordinated roll referencing a distant point on the horizon (eyes outside, not on the ball please). Help your pilot in training try a coordinated turn and demonstrate how much smoother and easier on the stomach it is with appropriate rudder applied. Here is a great Rod Machado video to show a student illustrating this technique:
Now pick a point on the distant horizon and roll with correct coordination on a single point and sustain a level turn for a while. Have your pilot in training practice this with eyes entirely outside; roll into a 30 degree banked turn (make sure they release the rudder pressure) and continue for 90 degrees of stable turning (This is a good time to mention and practice the appropriate amount of back pressure if it is a new learner). Reverse after 90 degrees of turn in the other direction. Turn reversal is initially more of a challenge but perfectly illustrates accurate yaw cancelling. After a few cycles of turning, try rolling into a bank and reversing on a single point without letting the airplane enter the turn (many pilots call this a “Dutch Roll”). This exercise should be part of every initial flight lesson. This exercise tunes up the feet and overcomes our more common “driving impulse.” Every aircraft requires a different amont of rudder pressure so this is something I do on downwind in every airplane (solo, not with the boss in the back). This exercise is very efficient and only takes about as long as this description required; easy and effective!
This introduction can be followed by more advanced illustrations of yaw correction if your pilot immediately “gets it.” When flying level at approach speed, apply and reduce power aggressively (with NO yaw correction) to demonstrate the left-yaw effects and the necessary application of rudder to hold a distant point on the horizon. As power is applied, right rudder is necessary. (I make this a “muscle memory exercise” – as the right hand goes in with more power, the right rudder is applied).
Finally, illustrate that as the nose pitch is aggressively increased, left turning tendencies are created requiring right rudder to cancel yaw to the left. And when you combine these two forces (as in a take-off or simulated go-around) the right rudder force is more obvious. Again, this is lesson #1 and 2; vital understanding of the physics at work.
These are understandings and skills every pilot in training needs to successfully take off and turn; lesson #1 and 2. And as soon as your pilot in training has mastered these skills, turn over the control and responsibility completely to your new pilot (with no educator intervention or correction). This is the incredibly valuable incremental mastery we mentioned in an earlier blog. This empowers and motivates your new pilot and starts them on the road to assuming full control PIC (essential but rare in student training).
Notice that yaw is so much easier to illustrate in its pure form if you remove and practice these exercises in isolation from “the scenario.” Once you practice this “yaw cancelling” as a distinct and pure exercise with a little drill and repetition it is quickly mastered and available for all future flying. Unfortunately, in most pilot training, appreciation of yaw forces gets lost in the continuing scenario and the CFI just ends up just bleating out “more right rudder” in a meaningless fashion. Most pilots never learn to properly use the rudder.
Once basic rudder understanding and proficiency are completed in isolation, we reassemble this package resuming a “normal flying scenario” and apply it in every maneuver. This is analogous to practicing scales on piano during initial training *before* we attempt Chopin. A few times through these exercises and your new pilot will only require an occasional “right rudder” reminder or tune up. Pilots trained correctly instinctively sense yaw (“something feels wrong here”) and apply appropriate/accurate rudder. We’ll discuss more advanced rudder exercises next week; fly safe (and often)!
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This is an opportunity for aviation educators at every level to get together with their peers to network, discuss and learn from some very experienced CFIs; e.g. 
exhibiting a lack of stability, ground track control and overall discipline. The physical problems with patterns are obvious but they are driven by a lack of understanding risk and knowledge of the forces at work. This lack of stability and control continues directly into professional piloting where unstable approaches and overrun accidents are the #1 cause of accidents in corporate jets. As aviation educators (and pilots) we need to do better. Understanding some basic flight dynamics is critical to success.
In our initial flight instruction teaching the basic level turn, we emphasize that when a plane is banked, the lift vector is redirected to the horizontal (to create the turn) and no longer entirely opposes gravity. Consequently, some back-pressure is necessary to maintain altitude in a level turn. And during initial flight training, we build up this rote, muscle memory “bank and add pressure” response through repetition. But when we move on to the descending turns, is essential to emphasize this previously memorized script is incorrect.
As a flight instructor have you been guilty of telling eager beginners that “learning to fly is easy”? Do you personally really believe that often used phrase? If you think back to *your* initial training don’t you remember those dark moments of discouragement and disappointment that are inevitably part of this process? Learning anything complex is not all sunshine and light. Struggle, disappointment and personal growth are all a necessary part of learning to fly. But if you were successful, at some point some caring person helped you through those dark times of doubt – a mentor or hopefully a compassionate, honest aviation educator? We know from 
Another bit of tech wizardry in modern planes is the “envelope protection” initiative from Garmin and Avidyne built into new airframes (just when SAFE is advocating for pilot “
I recently spent a beautiful evening watching students in the pattern challenging their young instructors and abusing their aircraft. Almost every approach was clearly defective long before getting anywhere near the runway; inconsistent configuration, altitudes or ground track; and poor airspeed control with “lucky line-up.” Despite all these obvious problems they all continued to an “arrival” that also kept the lawn mowing crew nervously looking over their shoulders. Without any mastery of the critical sub-components necessary for landing they continued grinding out (and reinforcing) more errors all the while beating up the equipment and hoping for some kind of magical improvement – remember that definition of insanity? And 56% of accidents occur in the pattern – where we spend only 5% of our time. This lunacy also discourages and drives away many students with an assault on their self-worth and sanity. There is an easy remedy here and it is not complicated. It does however require a “culture change” (which can be difficult). We need to teach landings later in training – and only after full mastery of the required basics. And instead of only teaching landing in their final form, try some “centerline slowflight.”
Most schools and instructors teach landings way too early and only in their final form. They begin landing before the individual components have been mastered by the pilot in training. Usually this is a misguided attempt to motivate the pilot in training and demonstrate “fast progress” and success. But many times there is a worse motivator; an ego-boost for the instructor or image-builder for the school demonstrating low-hour “success” (scare quotes because the specious low standard). Unfortunately what usually happens is that the new duty of the CFI becomes “protecting the plane” while the student “figures it out” with a series of frustrating “hints and near misses” that I was witnessing. Is it any surprise young CFIs run for the airlines? Is it any surprise 80% of students drop out?
To start correctly, it is essential to carefully define and demonstrate that the objective of a “safe landing” looks like – on speed, on point in the proper landing configuration, etc. It is necessary to burn the media hype of “the greaser” and all that associated crap. Aim instead for a manageable, safe, landing with consistent, attainable, goals. A full explanation of all the skills and components gives motivation for working hard and 
Every CFI needs to be comfortable with centerline slow flight and it should be part of every normal student syllabus. This maneuver builds confidence in your learner and overcomes “ground fear” for new pilots in training. It also builds the subtle control feel and visual cues for the bouancy of ground effect that contain 90% of the secret to effective landings. One huge psychological advantage to centerline slow flight is removing the expectation of landing that seems to be built into every pilot. Flying a series of low passes builds mastery of the go-around as a viable and safe “escape option.” This maueuver also saves wear and tear on the training aircraft and makes the subsequent teaching of a full landing a snap.
Controlling AOA is the central tool in the generation of lift and essential to everything we do as pilots defying gravity. Understanding and managing AOA is indisputably the most important knowledge and skill set we (should) learn as students. But unfortunately, if AOA exists at all in a pilot’s vocabulary it seems to represent only the feared excess of the stalled condition. And even the simple stall is clouded in mystery and fear and hidden behind an over-reliance on technological protections. Now that minimum controllable airspeed (MCA) has been removed from the private pilot ACS, educators often don’t teach this important skill and sample “the feathered edge” of critical AOA. Learning to maneuver in MCA not only teaches coordination, it teaches all the kinesthetic cues of the impending stall.
I have been privileged to own a 7AC Champ for the last 30 years. This plane has no stall warning device at all – and no blue button or “envelope protection” either. Demonstrating AOA and teaching stalls is so easy in a Champ or Cub (or glider); pilots in training learn it early and fairly painlessly. Add all the distractions of a technologically advanced airplane and the slow flight/stall process can take longer and be disguised by distractions. Don’t get me wrong, technology is wonderful and necessary in a “go fast” machine, but the physics of lift is identical and more easily learned in a simple plane.
So why is it the pilot initiates this problem by pulling and stalling? There is no sure answer available but it seems to be a human tendency that occurs as part of the startle/fear experience. I personally call it the “monkey pull,” since it is an atavistic survival mechanism somewhere in our (ground-based) DNA. Pull away from what is approaching? Unfortunately for flight dynamics, this instinctive reaction in LOC-I is completely wrong for aircraft control and overrides the stability built into the machine. Much of our initial flight training involves attempting to train out this fear/startle response and overcome the pulling response in emergencies. I do not think personally we can ever entirely succeed and the training gets faint if we do not practice continuously.
The bigger CG picture and the inherent stability of the plane should be explained and demonstrated to all pilots in training by the professional aviation educator in a very careful and non-threatening manner. We discussed an airplane’s
