Forces of Flight

Forces of Flight

Controlling the Flight of a Plane

How does a plane fly? Let's pretend that our arms are wings. If we place one wing down and one wing up we can use the roll to change the direction of the plane. We are helping to turn the plane by yawing toward one side. If we raise our nose, like a pilot can raise the nose of the plane, we are raising the pitch of the plane. All these dimensions together combine to control the flight of the plane.

 

A pilot of a plane has special controls that can be used to fly the plane. There are levers and buttons that the pilot can push to change the yaw, pitch and roll of the plane. 
 

To roll the plane to the right or left, the ailerons are raised on one wing
and lowered on the other. The wing with the lowered aileron rises while the wing with the raised aileron drops.

Pitch is to make a plane descend or climb. The pilot adjusts the elevators on the tail to make a plane descend or climb. Lowering the elevators caused the airplane's nose to drop, sending the plane into a down. Raising the elevators causes the airplane to climb.

Yaw is the turning of a plane. When the rudder is turned to one side, the airplane moves left or right. The airplane's nose is pointed in the same direction as the direction of the rudder. The rudder and the ailerons are used together to make a turn

How does a Pilot Control the Plane?

The pilot controls the engine power using the throttle. Pushing the throttle increases power, and pulling it decreases power.

Picture of plane in roll

The ailerons raise and lower the wings. The pilot controls the roll of the plane by raising one aileron or the other with a control wheel. Turning the control wheel clockwise raises the right aileron and lowers the left aileron, which rolls the aircraft to the right.

 Picture of plane Yaw

 The rudder works to control the yaw of the plane. The pilot moves rudder left and right, with left and right pedals. Pressing the right rudder pedal moves the rudder to the right. This yaws the aircraft to the right. Used together, the rudder and the ailerons are used to turn the plane.

 

Picture of Plane Pitch

The elevators which are on the tail section are used to control the pitch of the plane. A pilot uses a control wheel to raise and lower the elevators, by moving it forward to back ward. Lowering the elevators makes the plane nose go down and allows the plane to go down. By raising the elevators the pilot can make the plane go up.

The pilot of the plane pushes the top of the rudder pedals to use the brakes. The brakes are used when the plane is on the ground to slow down the plane and get ready for stopping it. The top of the left rudder controls the left brake and the top of the right pedal controls the right brake.

If you look at these motions you can see that each type of motion helps control the direction and level of the plane when it is flying.