A B767-300 captain that after a wake vortex encounter shortly after takeoff the 'rudder ratio' light...

Narrative:

Just after liftoff we flew through what felt like wake turbulence with left and right movement. The 'rudder ratio' light came on. We did the checklist when we were climbing at a safe altitude. It said not to make any large rudder inputs when above 160 KTS. It also said not to land in a crosswind over 15 KTS. I checked the forecast and it was for very light wind. ATIS said that the wind was variable at 3 KTS. On final approach when we switched to tower he told us the wind was 16 knots direct crosswind. We told him that our max cross wind was 15 KTS. The wind then increased to 19 KTS. The tower had us fly over the airport. We asked for the east runway. He informed us that we would have to hold for about 45 mintues to get it. Since we had only about a little over an hour of fuel remaining; that did not sound good. He then said the wind had changed and was now staying at about 9 KTS. So when landed on the south runway. The wind stayed at 9 KTS. This is the second time I have had the rudder ratio fail. It could be bad situation if there is no runway near by that can be within limits!

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B767-300 Captain that after a wake vortex encounter shortly after takeoff the 'Rudder Ratio' light came on; limiting the crosswind on landing to 15 KTS.

Narrative: Just after liftoff we flew through what felt like wake turbulence with left and right movement. The 'Rudder Ratio' light came on. We did the checklist when we were climbing at a safe altitude. It said not to make any large rudder inputs when above 160 KTS. It also said not to land in a crosswind over 15 KTS. I checked the forecast and it was for very light wind. ATIS said that the wind was variable at 3 KTS. On final approach when we switched to tower he told us the wind was 16 knots direct crosswind. We told him that our max cross wind was 15 KTS. The wind then increased to 19 KTS. The tower had us fly over the airport. We asked for the east runway. He informed us that we would have to hold for about 45 mintues to get it. Since we had only about a little over an hour of fuel remaining; that did not sound good. He then said the wind had changed and was now staying at about 9 KTS. So when landed on the south runway. The wind stayed at 9 KTS. This is the second time I have had the rudder ratio fail. It could be bad situation if there is no runway near by that can be within limits!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	894211
Time
Date	201006
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B767-300 and 300 ER
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Rudder Control System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 240 Flight Crew Total 23000 Flight Crew Type 12000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter

A B767-300 captain that after a wake vortex encounter shortly after takeoff the 'rudder ratio' light came on; limiting the crosswind on landing to 15 KTS.