flight controls
Pilot's steering mechanisms
Flight controls are the mechanisms a pilot uses to maneuver an aircraft—the yoke or stick, rudder pedals, and throttle.
The term covers both the cockpit inputs and the surfaces they move: ailerons, elevators, flaps.
The pilot checked the flight controls before takeoff.
Modern aircraft use fly-by-wire systems where computers mediate between pilot inputs and control surfaces.
- aileronsWing-mounted roll controls
- flapsHinged control surfaces
- attitude indicatorInstrument showing aircraft orientation
- yokeCrosspiece binding draft animals
- joystickTilting lever for control
pedals · rudder · fly-by-wire · elevator · maneuvers · trims · throttle · head-up display · spoilers · altimeter · glass cockpit · cyclic · bank angle · tiltrotor · collective · vertical lift · gyroplane · autorotation
- aerospaceairplane, helicopter, rocket, rockets, spacecraft
- flight simulationcockpit, joystick, landing, takeoff, autopilot
- aircraft manufacturingfuselage, airframes, final assembly, assembly line, avionics
- critical systemsavionics, pacemakers, life support, nuclear reactors, autopilot
- flight controlsailerons, elevators, yoke, rudder, aileron
- helicopter partsrotor, tail rotor, rotor blade, blades, rotor blades
flight controlsloss of control
Inability to direct outcomes
free fall · freefall · stall · spin · hydraulic failure
flight, flights, flying, flown, flier, control, controls, controlled, controlling