RC-FIEND,

You will find the rudder is your friend in more than just wind. Knife edges, stall turns (hammerheads) and a host of others all require use of the rudder. I bet you are using it to help with the takeoff roll as well as the landing rollout.

Some planes tend to pitch either down or up (what is called pitch coupling) or if you are in knife edge flight then it may pitch towards the belly (down) or towards the canopy (up). Biplanes are well known for this as well as roll coupling which requires the use of the airlerons along with elevator when you apply rudder. The beauty of computer transmitters is you can setup mixes to handle these items.

What I teach my students when it comes to rudder use is get a couple of hundred feet up and level off and keep the normal amount of power you use to just cruise around. Now add rudder in either direction and watch what the plane does. If the nose goes down then add up elevator at the same time as holding the rudder and if the nose goes up add down elevator with the rudder. If the plane drops a wing counteract it with aileron. It takes practice and the first few times might make you a little nervous.

The idea here is to keep the wings and nose level and let the rudder do the turn. Practice this until you can do it at will and you will soon see that you are getting to be a better pilot that can keep his plane under complete control with all the control surfaces available.

The rudder can make a world of difference in the way aerobatics look and the track of the plane and the more advanced manuevers as well as 3D flight require rudder in almost every manuever you do.

A sideslip landing is based on how much rudder is needed to keep the nose pointing straight down the runway while counteracting the rudder turn with opposite aileron to keep the plane from turning and elevator and power to get the glide slope consistent. Once you can do smooth rudder turns then prcatice sideslips up high and be prepared. If you do not correct with power the plane will tend to lose altitude fast which is also a great way to correct for a landing that is going to be long. Remember the elevator points the nose up or down but it's power along with elevator that determines the altitude and the attitude of the plane.

One other thing, if you are flying away from you, you can really see all of what I have described well.

Sorry for the long post and good luck, you are well on your way.