Ok, this is a great question! It can be quite complex depending on who you're talking to. I started a thread about using rudder a while back. Most new RC pilots learn to steer the plane using the ailerons and elevator. I agree that it seems easier.

Most of the guys at my club who started when I did (this summer) were taught to use ailerons and elevator, and not to worry about the rudder. Now, watching them land, especially in any kind of wind, is just not pretty. I joined this forum before I started flying and learned about the importance of using rudder, especially when taking off and landing.

When doing a basic turn in the sky, I started out using ailerons and rudder. Withing a few weeks I was not satisfied watching the tail sink through the turn, so I started adding in a little rudder to kick the tail up inline with the rest of the plane. Now when I make a 'coordinated turn' (using ailerons AND rudder) I think I do both at the same time, or maybe the rudder a split second later, and am actually rolling the plane the OPPOSITE way with the ailerons to correct for the added roll when using rudder.

I am not an instructor, I am a new pilot but strive to fly the best I can, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

As a beginner, your turns in the sky should be with the ailerons and elevator. When you are very comfortable flying the pattern (boxes) in both directions, and figure 8's, start playing with the rudder. When you're landing, you want to try to steer the plane with the rudder. When landing and taking off, you steer with rudder and keep the plane level with ailerons. If you are trying to steer with the ailerons, you will end up landing on one wheel, having a wing tip hit the ground, etc.

I believe it is never too soon to start using rudder. Like I said, start playing with it as soon as you are comfortable flying the plane. Try making 'flat turns' (steering with the rudder and keeping the plane level with ailerons). You are using a sim, so you can start using the rudder now! That's what I did, and my instructors were amazed when I was landing on my third day of flying and using my rudder to steer the plane onto the strip.

Landing...I was advised, and it is sound advice, to not practice your landing too much on a sim. The sim does a great job of teaching orientation and the very basics, but it just does not replicate real flight characteristics, ESPECIALLY the forces and nuances that happen when taking off and landing. The only thing I can suggest is practice controlling decent rate (how fast the plane comes out of the sky) with the THROTTLE and the elevator. I think the most important thing about landing is learning how fast your plane wants to sink - when you are comfortable with that, and can adjust it, landing is just flying slowly onto the runway.

So definitely listen to what others have to say - there is much more experience out there, and people do things in different ways or explain things differently. Personally, people tell me "I've got it" when it comes to landing a plane. Now I might not have it when trying to put it into words on the screen!