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A320 captain experiences 'frozen' rudder pedals upon landing and subsequent difficulty maintaining directional control. With help from the first officer control is maintained and the captain is able to steer using the tiller. Once clear of the runway a flight control check is accomplished and the rudder shows no movement for a full scale rudder pedal deflection.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 961392 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201107 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A320 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Landing |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Rudder Control System |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Check Pilot Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 2900 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control |
Narrative:
The aircraft passed all preflight checks on the ground and flew the entire leg without incident or any mechanical problems. The weather was clear and the winds were 5-7 KTS out of the west. We conducted a visual approach but once we touched down; the nose of the aircraft started to drift left of the centerline. I immediately started to apply right rudder but to no avail. It felt like the rudder was frozen. I then started to apply a great deal of pressure to the right rudder (I would estimate 100-200 pounds of pressure). The rudder then started to move a little bit and I was able to straighten the nose out and parallel the center line. I asked the first officer if he was on the rudder and he said no. Then the rudder started to fluctuate left and right and the nose started to respond by moving left and right. At this time I asked the first officer to come on the rudders with me and help me keep them centered. He did and we were able to keep the aircraft going down the runway straight until I got the aircraft slow enough to introduce the tiller. When we cleared the runway; we could move the rudder pedals full deflection in either direction with no resistance or feel at all. The rudder pedals felt as if they were not connected to anything. However; when we moved the rudder pedals from left to right they did command the nose wheel steering to steer left or right. I then used the nose wheel steering disconnect button on the tiller and accomplished a flight control rudder check. When I pushed the rudder pedals full left and then full right; the rudder indication on the flight control display page did not move. The rudder on the flight control display page stayed in the center position. We taxied to the gate without incident and wrote the discrepancy up. We then waited for a maintenance technician and we briefed him.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A320 Captain experiences 'frozen' rudder pedals upon landing and subsequent difficulty maintaining directional control. With help from the First Officer control is maintained and the Captain is able to steer using the tiller. Once clear of the runway a flight control check is accomplished and the rudder shows no movement for a full scale rudder pedal deflection.
Narrative: The aircraft passed all preflight checks on the ground and flew the entire leg without incident or any mechanical problems. The weather was clear and the winds were 5-7 KTS out of the west. We conducted a visual approach but once we touched down; the nose of the aircraft started to drift left of the centerline. I immediately started to apply right rudder but to no avail. It felt like the rudder was frozen. I then started to apply a great deal of pressure to the right rudder (I would estimate 100-200 LBS of pressure). The rudder then started to move a little bit and I was able to straighten the nose out and parallel the center line. I asked the First Officer if he was on the rudder and he said no. Then the rudder started to fluctuate left and right and the nose started to respond by moving left and right. At this time I asked the First Officer to come on the rudders with me and help me keep them centered. He did and we were able to keep the aircraft going down the runway straight until I got the aircraft slow enough to introduce the tiller. When we cleared the runway; we could move the rudder pedals full deflection in either direction with no resistance or feel at all. The rudder pedals felt as if they were not connected to anything. However; when we moved the rudder pedals from left to right they did command the nose wheel steering to steer left or right. I then used the nose wheel steering disconnect button on the tiller and accomplished a flight control rudder check. When I pushed the rudder pedals full left and then full right; the rudder indication on the flight control display page did not move. The rudder on the flight control display page stayed in the center position. We taxied to the gate without incident and wrote the discrepancy up. We then waited for a maintenance technician and we briefed him.
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.