A rudder is not strictly required for every moment of flight, yet its absence or failure reshapes the entire task of guiding an airplane. Pilot’s manage to land the aircraft without a rudder through careful employment of other control surfaces. failure occurred during approach, and the pilot's approach was controlled despite rudder failure. Thus, while a functional rudder widens the margin of safety, flight and landing can still be completed when it is lost, provided systems and crews exploit the remaining authority over yaw.
Expert behind this article
Jim Goodrich
Jim Goodrich is a pilot, aviation expert and founder of Tsunami Air.
What is a rudder failure in an aircraft?
A rudder failure in an aircraft is a design flaw that could result in an uncommanded movement of the aircraft's rudder. USAir Flight 427 lost control due to sudden and unexpected rudder movement. Similar rudder issues led to temporary loss of control on at least one other Boeing 737 flight, and United Airlines Flight 585 lost control due to sudden and unexpected rudder movement.
A rudder failure in an aircraft occurs when the rudder surface, cable, power control unit, or the connecting aileron-rudder stops doing what the pedals command. Sometimes the unit jams, forcing the surface to deflect opposite to pilot input, and sometimes the right rudder cable arcs and burns until it snaps, leaving the pedals stuck in their neutral position. In other cases, a pilot on rotation feels no pedal movement and observes that the tail indicator is motionless, while flight data later confirm the surface never responded to inputs. Friction, foreign objects, or the mechanical failure of a hydraulic actuator stop plate create blow-down or hard-over deflections, and at higher airspeeds, a reduction in available hydraulic pressure causes the airstream itself to pin the rudder against its physical limits.
Fatigue cracks in rudder posts fabricated from AISI 1025 carbon steel have already caused full rudder tops to fold over the upper tail-brace wires, and several Piper 40622 rudders have been lost for the same reason. Investigations therefore recommend inspections for rudder-post integrity, for proper cable routing and tension, for power control unit contamination, and for any design flaw capable of producing unannounced opposite deflection. Following a failure, the standby rudder system will continue to provide hydraulic assistance, and that the aircraft remains controllable by combining forward slip with aileron inputs and roll-spoilers until safe landing is achieved.
What happens when a plane loses its rudder?
If a plane loses its rudder, the aircraft retains its principal yaw-stabilizing surface but turns will be uncoordinated because the pilot can no longer apply the small moving section that normally overcomes adverse yaw. Loss of the rudder therefore means that the pilot cannot coordinate aileron turns, so each bank is accompanied by sideways skid and extra drag. In routine flight the machine can be kept right-side-up with ailerons and elevator, yet spins become vital: the third step in the spin-recovery procedure is to apply the opposite rudder to the direction of turn, so without that control a flat spin persists. Enter a forward slip with ailerons to oppose the missing rudder and you create an uncommanded roll that quickly develops into an unusual attitude. If the motion is not stopped, the uncontrolled roll eventually results in a crash. Because you will not be able to execute a side slip, cross-wind landings demand extra speed and crab angles, while ground-loop risk rises the moment the wheels touch.
Can a plane fly without a rudder?
Because yaw control can be provided in other ways, a plane can fly without a conventional rudder. Tailless aircraft can operate without vertical stabilizer; they achieve directional stability through careful aerodynamic design and use split rudders or drag devices on the wingtips for yaw control. The B-2 Spirit is a tailless airplane that can maneuver without a vertical stabilizer, relying on flying-wing configurations that incorporate blended surfaces to provide directional control. NASA and MIT reported developing a flexible wing that eliminates the need for a vertical stabilizer, suggesting that future stealth aircraft will avoid vertical stabilizers entirely while remaining fully controllable.
Can you land a plane without a rudder?
Most modern planes can land without a rudder. If the yaw control fails, the pilots need to use the aileron and the side-slip technique. They will carry out the side-slip technique to keep the vertical stabilizer working: that surface on the back of the airplane provides some yaw damping even when the pedal is useless. During landing there will be yaw towards the live engine on twin types, so the crew must brief which rudder they use to counteract it and then replace that missing yaw command with aileron and careful bank. The rudder only controls yaw, the vertical axis of the plane, so the approach is flown with small, steady bank angles and asymmetric power as required.
