If those rudder peddals are so touchy, the FAA should order them out of the sky. I won't fly in one, ever.
Personally I think this is a cover up for a shoe bomber that brough the plane down. The FAA doesn't want us to know that flying is unsafe. But if what they say is true, the planes themself are unsafe. This problem doesn't exist in american made planes.
Too much spin makes me dizzy.
Terrorists with C4 filled shoes or belts can also severely affect rudders.
No, really???
But I'm still going with the flying frozen Butterball hypothesis. At least until the government comes clean. But I won't hold my breath while I'm waiting.
And yes the rudder is used in making a turn, in combination with an alieron movement. It is also used when flying in a straight line , just try to hold an aircraft on course without it, can't be done. Same as driving your car in a straight line, you don't hold the wheel still, you're constantly having to turn it one way or the other a bit to hold the car straight.
Something I've wondered about and haven't seen much of, is the age of the aircraft. An older airplane, especially one heavily used in commercial service, I would think that metal fatigue would be a factor. I realise that the aircraft is regularly inspected by regulation, I'm just curious at how thoughly the effects of stress over a prolonged period of time are measured, does the floroscope/x-ray procedure really show all the damage?