Rudder Help and Soloing Question
 

So I have about 18 hours of flight time and when I went up earlier today with my instructor, a couple of hours before I was supposed to complete a pre-solo check-ride (my flight school requires it). The landings were bad but not completely horrible (the plane was able to be used again), however, they were far from solo quality. His biggest complaint was the lack of rudder usage. However, the flight before he said my rudder usage was excellent. Does anyone have any tips for using rudder on landing? Any exercises or tips to help build rudder usage? And a completely random question but, how many hours is average for soloing?

I've seen solo reasonably between 15 - 35 hours, rarely is it done at 10.

Rudder should be used to stay coordinated until short final (ball centered). During the LDG, use the rudder to keep the nose lined up with centerline.

With no crosswind, you use minimal aileron inputs just to keep the wings level and the airplane in the middle of the runway.

With a crosswind, you'll typically setup in a side slip on short final. You'll bank into the wind enough to hold the airplane on the extended centerline without drifting. You can increase/decrease the bank as needed to keep the airplane on the centerline. You also use enough rudder to keep the nose pointed straight ahead so you don't land sideways. Set the bank first because the amount of rudder depends on the bank (the bank depends on the amount of crosswind).

I'm guessing that the needle-ball[turn and bank to you] is not in your scan. The ball needs to be centered at all times for coordinated flight. If the ball is not centered- step on it. I don't think you have tied everything together yet and are flying mechanically. Watch the ball. Keep the nose straight on landing(rudder), stay lined up (aileron). Watch the ball. Some will disagree but it's a start. Good Luck;)

Don't sweat the solo time, some babies walk at 13 months, some at 18... Neither is indicative who will be the track star.......

Also don't forget you'll need more and more rudder and aileron as the plane slows down in the flare in a crosswind landing. Lots of landings has a slight crosswind that isn't readily apparent when you're new so you forget to apply the technique. That's probably all your instructor was saying was you weren't recognizing or correcting enough and ending up landing crabbed.

Don't sweat the hours. It really isn't important. When you first do it by yourself, you'll be even more proud because you know you worked hard for it. You're probably right on the cusp, but for a cfi to step out of the plane they need not only you to be proficient, but the right weather and you to be on point that specific day.

What plane are you flying? If you can't tell I soloed a piper tomahawk.

I disagree, when landing, use the rudder to keep the longitudinal axis aligned (nose straight) and ailerons to control drift, however much is necessary. Do NOT let the airplane drift off the center, be aggressive if necessary with these. Coordination is out the window at this point and with any crosswind or gusts, it's not coordinated.

Although "scanning" "the ball" is important and should be done, one should learn how to fly coordinated without it'd use and understand the relative wind concept, rather than always being behind the ball, which basically tells you you've already screwed up.

First of all don't feel too bad. Many pilots don't seem to know what their feet are for. This is especially evidenced when transitioning to a tail wheel or seaplane. Yes there are exercises. Some serve to teach initial rudder skills and others do better with honing existing skills. Another good tool to learn rudder skills is a yaw string. They don't work well on "tractor" singles though... They are commonly used on sailplanes/gliders. I might recommend purchasing an instructional flight in a glider. Inform the instructor of your rudder situation... would likely be money well spent.

Sounds like you are just about there... If he has previously told you that your landings/rudder skills were good, then chances are you just had a bad day... it happens, so dont worry about it too much and end up losing confidence in your abilities.

As for average solo time. I had my solo at 17.8, so right about the same as you are at now. I bet next time you go up you nail those landings no problem and knock out that solo:D

Standard Cessna 172/G, anywhere from 160-180 hp depending on the day and what airplane I get. There was the tiniest little crosswind, about 4kts, so you're probably right. Will focus on the ball!

This, according to him, is what I did really well the flight prior to yesterday's flight, however, yesterday, like deftone said, might have been an off day. Still want to be as close to perfect though when I solo, so thank you for the feedback! :)

I'll have to go and try this, thanks!

Thanks:)

What others have said here is good.

Throughout the pattern, your hands and feet should be connected by steel rods. You bank right, put in some right rudder. If the nose starts to "swing" rather than "turn" (there is a difference, if your instructor has never showed you a skidding turn, ask him to do so), then relax the right rudder just a bit. But always input rudder in the direction of your bank inputs.

This all goes out the window when you are rolling out of the turn to final, however. You should know what direction of wind to expect. Be asking yourself through the turn, "will I have a left crosswind or a right crosswind?" Knowing the answer will tell you which direction to apply ailerons in order to correct for wind drift on final. Left wind, left aileron and vice versa. Put in the aileron correction as soon as you finish the turn to final, then use the rudder to make those runway centerline dashes STRAIGHT! Not almost straight, not sideways, but STRAIGHT. From that point on, change aileron as necessary to keep the aircraft from drifting side to side. Change rudder as necessary to keep the centerline straight.

Continue these inputs all the way through the flare and touchdown so that you land on the wheel that is on the side of aircraft from which the wind is blowing (called the upwind wheel). That is the aileron's job. Your wheel should also be pointing straight down the runway, not skidding sideways. That is the rudder's job. In a strong and/or gusty wind, this will require a fair amount of "dancing" on the rudder pedals. Don't be afraid to push all the way to the stop on the rudder control if necessary (If you have the rudder all the way to the stop and the airplane STILL turns towards the wind, you've just tried to land in a stronger wind than the aircraft is capable of handling). Remember your rudder gets less effective the slower you fly, so if the rudder input was correct on final approach, you may need more rudder input to achieve the same result during the flare.

Once you touch down, the temptation is to relax all your control inputs and breathe a huge, big breath. Don't do that yet! Just like the rudder, your aileron is less effective as you get slower, meaning you will need to put in MORE aileron into the wind as you slow down. A proper roll out is one in which you use rudder to maintain the centerline, and aileron input is gradually increasing until you are at full aileron deflection into the crosswind. If you are doing a touch and go, this will require more aileron input as you slow down followed by decreasing aileron input as you speed up.

Hope this helps. One final tip: all of the above is just to help you understand the theory behind what SHOULD be happening. When you are actually in the airplane, don't overthink what you have to do. Your instructor has probably already taught you all of these things, and all you have to do is develop the physical skill. You'll get there! :)