I heard a pilot refer to another pilot as a "good stick and rudder man." What does that expression mean?

Question

I heard a pilot refer to another pilot as a "good stick and rudder man." What does that expression mean?

Answer 1

good stick is good with the yoke = the wheel in his hands controls the flaps on the wings . rudder = foot peddels that control the rudder on the back of the plane

Answer 2

In these days of autopilots, radar altitude control and even auto-land, its harder to find someone that is truely gifted at piloting the plane himself, using the stick and rudder.

instead of the hand controls (wheel) of today, the orginal alieron and elevator was controled with a simple stick, pedals controled the rudder.

being a good stick and rudder man meant you could fly instinctively using only these controls.

wer

Answer 3

I agree with the other answers, but I do want to clarify something.  Good "stick and rudder skills" means that a person has a knack for controlling an airplane.  That alone, however, does not necessarily make a good pilot.  It's a great start, but good systems knowledge and decision making skills are at least as important to being a good pilot as stick and rudder skills.

Answer 4

I guess it means different things to different people. To me it means a good pilot.

Answer 5

Stick and rudder refers to controlling an aircraft by hand flying,  as opposed to the use of an autopilot and/or flight director. It is standard procedure in the vast majority of scheduled air carriers to use flight directors and auto pilots in conjunction with auto throttles as this is done to maximize passenger comfort, and reduce pilot workload for improved safety of flight. Because of the constant use of auto pilot, auto throttle, and flight director systems, airline pilots may gradually loose fine yoke, rudder and throttle skills. The skills that are instilled in airline pilots are crew, resource, and workload management skills, as well as instrument flying skills. Many airline pilots own or will occasionally fly small general aviation aircraft for just this reason, and because we as pilots just have a great passion for flying. There is also a book by the title "Stick and Rudder".

Note to donald m: Ailerons, not flaps, are controlled by the yoke or control stick. Flaps are controlled by flap levers.

Answer 6

That hes a good Pilot.  Old planes had a stick to controll the plane, then there was rudder controlls. Thus, good at those = Good pilot.

Answer 7

It's a compliment... it just means you are a good pilot with strong basic abilities.... if you ever fly a J4 Cub... you will LEARN what Stick and Rudder means... All those planes had was a stick and rudder and 4 instruments in the panel... compass, turn and bank indicator, artificial horizon and an altimeter... which is really all you need to learn to fly or to fly.

Those planes fly so slowly you can actually land and take off then fly backwards and do it over and over again, if the headwinds are above 35 MPH.  and you have NEVER done real slow flight until you have done it in a J3 or J4 CUB...

I've always thought the skills I learned in my hours of flying  a J4 CUB saved my life when, years later, I had to land a badly shot up Plautus Porter on the flight deck of the U.S.S. Lexington by slow flying it so I was actually hovering over the numbers and then landing it vertically... because the Plautus Porter didn't have a hook and I didn't want to ditch.