Hello,
I had the same problem last year with the rudder reset, apparently due to a "foreign" exotic keyboard layout, after having applied the 1.4.2. patch.
The solution was to simply replace the file Do_ShipControls.cgr in the folder .\ShipSim2008\Actors\Controls by a new one. It is a good idea to rename the old file instead of deleting it, but anyway it works fine on my system with a Belgian Azerty and on some German Qwertz.
Regards,
Luc
Edit: Forgot the dot cgr...