Why do planes have rudders? (try to guess before clicking)

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Simicro
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Why do planes have rudders? (try to guess before clicking)

Post by Simicro »

Wolfgang Langewiesche wrote:The important thing to understand about the rudder pedals is that they are unnecessary ; like your wisdom teeth, they serve no very good purpose but can cause much trouble.

The airplane needs no rudder pedals. It should have no rudder pedals.

The only purpose of rudder is to cover up the mistakes of the designers.
As some of you know I am in a re-learning the basics phase, and I bought "Stick and rudder" by Wolfgang Langewiesche. It is said to be a must-read.

My opinion: lots of text laid out as a novel, very few sketches and drawings, so not very appealing and not always easy to read. BUT lots of gems!
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DHenriques_
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Joined: 27 Mar 2009, 08:31
Location: East Coast United States

Re: Why do planes have rudders? (try to guess before clickin

Post by DHenriques_ »

Simicro wrote:
Wolfgang Langewiesche wrote:The important thing to understand about the rudder pedals is that they are unnecessary ; like your wisdom teeth, they serve no very good purpose but can cause much trouble.

The airplane needs no rudder pedals. It should have no rudder pedals.

The only purpose of rudder is to cover up the mistakes of the designers.
As some of you know I am in a re-learning the basics phase, and I bought "Stick and rudder" by Wolfgang Langewiesche. It is said to be a must-read.

My opinion: lots of text laid out as a novel, very few sketches and drawings, so not very appealing and not always easy to read. BUT lots of gems!
The purpose of the rudder on an airplane is quite simple. It's to keep the tail lined up with the nose.

Dudley Henriques

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AKar
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Re: Why do planes have rudders? (try to guess before clickin

Post by AKar »

This was one of the Langewiesche's theses that didn't quite stand the test of time. Today, all the airplanes that by design can be flown with feet on floor still come with rudder pedals.

-Esa

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DHenriques_
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Re: Why do planes have rudders? (try to guess before clickin

Post by DHenriques_ »

AKar wrote:This was one of the Langewiesche's theses that didn't quite stand the test of time. Today, all the airplanes that by design can be flown with feet on floor still come with rudder pedals.

-Esa
This is especially prevalent in high performance airplanes. In a Mustang for example, rudder is critical as the torque changes are massive as airspeed changes and or angle of attack climbs into the higher range. In fast jets like the T38, you can do aerobatics all day long with your feet flat on the floor.
DH

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