Pilot Journey Forums

I am student pilot in Central Iowa training on a 1981 Cessna 152 II.  As of yesterday I have 7.9 hours of flight time. I have the Sporty's package, plus some King Schools and Rod Machado's private pilot handbook. Anyway, I am having a problem using the rudder.  During normal flight I just get too involved in everything else that I forget to use the rudder on turns, especially when rolling out.  And when landing (with lots of help at this point) I either hear "more left/right rudder!  or "no so much left/right rudder!"

About my last 2 hours has been in the pattern and touch and go.  Any suggestions on improving my rudder control?  I understand the theory behind p-factor, crabbing, slipping, etc.  I just can't get a feel for the rudder.  I know that it will come, but if anybody has any ideas for making it easier in normal flight and/or landings, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks

Johnny

I always remember and teach when rudder is applied.  Thinking in this way might help you.  There are only a couple times when rudder is required to keep the airplane coordinated.

1.  When the bank is increasing or decreasing, to counteract adverse yaw.
2.  When the airplane is climbing, to counteract the left turning tendencies
3.  When the airplane is descending with a lot of power to counteract P-Factor.

That is it.  All the other times, the airplane engineers have designed it so the airplane stays coordinated.   ;D

If you can remember that whenever you bank the airplane, you use "hand and foot" it will become much easier.  Have your instructor show you adverse yaw and also practice dutch rolls to get the feeling of how to use both rudder and aileron.   8)

There were a lot of things I kept forgetting to do during specific maneuvers, so I started the habit of saying each step out loud as I did things. Maybe you can do this to remind yourself when to use the rudders.

To illustrate, when taxiing onto the runway I was using the brakes to help get exactly on the centerline, before adding full power. That is OK...but then I kept forgetting to slide my feet down off the brakes and onto the rudders. So I started this routine of saying each step out loud. It would go sort of like this: "Center line. Straighten nosewheel. Feet on the FLOOR. Add power. Check gauges." Then during the takeoff roll as I reached Vr I'd say "Rotate. Right Rudder." to remind myself to apply more right rudder upon rotation. Saying these things out loud became a sort of checklist for me. Then when I became a solo student I continuted saying these things out loud, even when I did my cross country flights.
I also did this for steep turns. You know, once you reach 30 degrees of bank you need even more back pressure, then you continue banking to 45 degrees of bank. So I would say out loud, as the airplane banked into the turn, "10. 20. 30. Back pressure. 45. Neutralize."
So maybe you can develop a similar routine.
Eventually you can stop saying it out loud, but you will still follow the steps mentally. Repetition helps to embed things in our memory.
I too use the Kings Schools materials. On the DVD where John demonstrates crosswind landings, he says to use just enough rudder to keep the nose centered, and just enough aileron to counter the crosswind. To this day, when I do a crosswind landing I can almost hear John's voice, saying "just enough rudder.." And can still almost see Martha standing near the runway threshold pointing out the correct sight picture.
I hope these mental images stick with me for a long time.