Flight Controls | SKYbrary Aviation Safety (2024)

FAQs

What are the 4 basic flight controls? ›

Aircraft flight control systems consist of primary and secondary systems. The ailerons, elevator (or stabilator), and rudder constitute the primary control system and are required to control an aircraft safely during flight.

Aircraft control their flight using movable portions of the wing and tail called control surfaces; a control check is a check performed to make sure that they're capable of moving through the range of motion that they're expected to be capable of moving through.

Aircraft are controlled through primary and secondary flight controls, and move over three axes known as longitudinal, lateral, and vertical axes. The airplane moves about these axes through roll, pitch, and yaw.

Primary flight controls are required to safely control an aircraft during flight and consist of ailerons, elevators (or, in some installations, stabilator) and rudder.

Airplane Controls: Yoke, Rudder and Throttle

Movement of the yoke signals either the elevators for up and down movement of the nose (pitch axis), or the ailerons, for side-to-side movement along the roll axis.

In most training aircraft a chain and sprocket system connects the two yokes, enabling them to move simultaneously. From there, a series of pulleys and cables run to the ailerons, elevator, and rudder, sort of like a cross between a Rube Goldberg machine and a marionette doll.

At least one wing must be stalled for a spin to occur. The other wing rises, decreasing its angle of attack, and the aircraft yaws towards the more deeply stalled wing. The difference in lift between the two wings causes the aircraft to roll, and the difference in drag causes the aircraft to continue yawing.

Language. Pursuant to requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ATC operations are conducted either in the English language, or the local language used by the station on the ground. In practice, the native language for a region is used; however, English must be used upon request.

Flaps are an example of a secondary flight control. Unlike primary flight controls–the elevator, rudder, and ailerons–secondary controls are not responsible for controlling the airplane's motion around an axis of flight.

Flight control surfaces are devices that allows a pilot to adjust and control the aircraft's altitude by using aerodynamics. Main control surfaces include ailerons, rudders, and elevators. Secondary control surfaces include spoilers, flaps, slats, and air brakes.

What is the difference between primary and secondary flight controls? ›

Primary flight controls are those that control roll, pitch and yaw. That would be ailerons, elevator, and rudder. Secondary controls just adjust certain aspects of those. Examples are trim tabs on all 3 axes mentioned above.

Direct Law

ALL protections are lost. In Direct Law, autopilot function is always lost. DIR is entered if there is failure of all three inertial reference units or all three primary flight computers, faults in both elevators or flame out of both engines concurrent with loss of PRIM 1.

Angle of Attack Force

Increasing the wing's angle of attack directs a portion of the vertical lift vector sideways, introducing a horizontal component of lift. This lateral lift component pulls the airplane into a bank, allowing pilots to turn using the angle of attack.

The purpose of the flaps is to generate more lift at slower airspeed, which enables the airplane to fly at a greatly reduced speed with a lower risk of stalling. This is especially useful during takeoff and landing.

Let's start with the forces. There are four forces that act on things that fly. These are weight, lift, thrust, and drag. Each of these plays a key role in keeping an aircraft in the air and moving forward.

Airplane Instruments

Using these instruments to monitor an airplane's position, rather than outside visual references, is known as attitude instrument flying. All airplanes have six basic instruments: airspeed indicator, attitude indicator, altimeter, turn coordinator, heading indicator, and vertical speed indicator.

They are the collective pitch control, the cyclic pitch control, and the antitorque pedals or tail rotor control. In addition to these major controls, the pilot must also use the throttle control, which is usually mounted directly to the collective pitch control in order to fly the helicopter.