Primary Control of Aircraft

Primary controls

Generally the primary cockpit controls are arranged as follows:

A typical aircraft's primary flight controls in motion

• A control column or a control yoke attached to a column — for roll and pitch, which moves the ailerons when turned or deflected left and right, and moves the elevators when moved backwards or forwards
• Rudder pedals to control yaw, which move the rudder; left foot forward will move the rudder left for instance.
• Throttle controls to control engine speed or thrust for powered aircraft.

The image shows the basic principles and the correct sense of movement of the primary controls, also illustrating a simple mechanical primary flying control system.

Even when an aircraft uses different kinds of surfaces, such as a V-tail/ruddervator, flaperons, or elevons, to avoid pilot confusion the aircraft will still normally be designed so that the yoke or stick controls pitch and roll in the conventional way, as will the rudder pedals for yaw.