Losing the rudder cleanly would probably be survivable as students have
been ignoring it for years. However, I contend that losing both the
rudder and the vertical fin would almost certainly cause a crash. Any
use of the ailerons in that circumstance would create a slight amount
of adverse yaw moment that would have almost no reaction surface. The
fuselage rear cone (especially on a later small tailcone diameter 150s)
would not be very effective restoring moment just at the time when you
would want to use a lot of the ailerons to get a semblance of steering.


There is redundancy in the aileron system. There is no redundancy in
the rudder/fin system.

I do recall a picture in Aviation Week many years ago though that
showed a B-52 with the whole vertical fin and rudder gone from a
thunderstorm. Otherwise it would be the Sioux City DC-10 accident all
over again but without the possibilities of differential engine thrust.
No thanks.