Am i using rudder correctly

[guitchess]

Hello Flitetest,

First, I want to send out a big thank you to this whole community. I am one of the many people that you have helped get into a hobby that was previously out of reach.

Now to my question, flying the 4 channel tiny trainer, i find it more natural/comfortable to use the rudder as the dominant control while using the ailerons as secondary control. Much of my research trends to show this as opposite the norm. Am i doing something that will cause issues when moving on to a different aircraft? Would this be considered bad form?

I will also be posting a flite vid in that section of you would like to see an example.

Thanks

 

[Spastickitten]

If it is what you like, then go ahead, but you are right that ailerons are usually dominant. It might be that that this plane can be operated rudder only that you have so much throw, that might change with different aircraft. Just get used to using the ailerons as the main control, and use the rudder to supplement it. I think there is an FT video out there for coordinated turning.

 

[pressalltheknobs]

Also it may be how you have your transmitter set up.

The usual way for a 3 channel on a mode 2 TX is to use the Ail channel for rudder. This way you learn to steer with the right stick and the left stick is only used for throttle.

When you move to a 4 channel, the rudder moves to the right stick with the throttle and is introduced as a control to make steering compensations mostly when taxiing taking off or landing but also to keep the tail following through in turns.

At least that is the theory. Different theories might apply to other TX modes but I think mode 1 is just reversed so it probably applies there.

 

[Snarls]

I think it depends on the type of flying you want to do in the future. If you are looking for scale flying then pressalltheknobs is right. Rudder is also used for control at slower speeds where ailerons are not as effective. If you are going to fly 3D you might find that rudder and aileron are both dominant controls with their own purpose. If you are flying just to have fun and do cool stuff with a plane then do what you like best assuming you are getting the flight lines you want.

 

[Balu]

It depends on how you want to fly too. Fighter pilots fly a lot of "bank 'n' yank" maneuvers, because ailerons and elevator have a lot more authority than rudder especially at high speeds. So they use ailerons to turn the plane on it's side and then use the elevator to do the turning.

But you don't want to do that when aligning the plane with a runway for example.

 

[captron360]

There is a lot you can do with the rudder. Try opposite rudder for a flatter turn or full rudder (not opposite) for a sharper turn. I just think it's great that you use it.

 

[razor02097]

No control should be dominant IMO. They each do different things. The trick is to use all of your controls to achieve smooth coordinated flight.

With a trainer plane with dihedral you can get away with just using rudder but if you ever jump into a more scale airplane you'll want to use more aileron than you are now

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

They are both equally important. The rudder should be used to coordinate turns, not be the dominant control surface. If you attempt to only use the rudder on a more scale airplane it'll stall out and do a partial snap roll. Warbirds especially are prone to this tendency. However, if you use only the ailerons the plane will drop out of the turns and into the ground. You have to mix the controls to get the plane to turn properly and not stall out into the ground.

 

[makattack]

Maybe it's more of a rates issue for me, but recently, I've started flying ~1M gliders (I have a new 4 servo winged Calypso) and have noticed that I'm doing more of the following, especially in wind:

* When I feel my turns using ailerons are too much, especially in wind, I seem to use less bank and yank turning and manually mix in more rudder for coordinated turns that don't require as much aileron / bank angle.

* Aileron differential really helps to keep turns coordinated without much rudder required on the big 1M wing, even with long ailerons. I just by default programmed in about 70% differential and it seems to make a big difference in keeping my turns coordinated with just ailerons, from what I can observe. The flaps I cut out of the ailerons on the Calypso were on the indent that FlyZone had, so I'd say the flaps are no more than 2 inches each, while the ailerons are much longer. I didn't think differential would make much of a difference (ahem), but it did.

 

[mjcp]

Remember this plane is designed to be a Rudder/elevator a/c to start with, so the rudder surface is bigger than it needs to be once you add ailerons...

As mentioned above, rudder is used in more scale a/c/ where aileron authority on its own is unable to induce a roll...

On my 4m glider, ailerons will make it begin to roll but the drag on the opposite aileron soon cancels it out and it turns into an aileron roll, rather than banking. Feeding in rudder helps to overcome this aileron drag that stops the bank...


See here for an illustration of why drag is created and why rudder is needed: PDF

On my glider, the ailerons are a *long* way out on the wing, so the rudder is needed more than say a small prop plane.

mjcp