There are three categories of primary controls.

These connections might be cables, electrical-conducting wires, electrical motors and computers, hydraulic lines, and hydroid motors. The third are the links between the cockpit controls and the external surfaces of the airplane. The second are the cockpit controls, which are moved by the pilot to change the direction of the airplane. The first are external moveable surfaces on the airplane, such as the rudder, aileron, and elevator. The secondary controls are flaps that control the lift of the airplane, especially at low speeds, and tabs that reduce or eliminate the forces the pilot must exert on the controls in the cockpit.Īll controls, whether primary or secondary, have three important subdivisions. The primary controls change the angles that the airplane makes relative to the ground. Flight controls can be separated into two categories: primary and secondary controls. Modern aerodynamic flight control systems, as opposed to engine controls, are essentially the same for all airplanes. By 1909, a control system had evolved consisting of ailerons, a rudder, and an elevator, which, in its essentials, remains in use today. However, they appreciated the importance of control and the fact that the pilot must be an active participant in the control of the airplane. The Wright brothers realized that a proper engine was a necessary ingredient in mechanical flight. Much of inventors’ efforts prior to beginning of the nineteenth century were directed at obtaining a lightweight engine. Prior to 1903, the prevailing ideas about aircraft control were that the airplane must have some kind of inherent stability and that the pilot’s only function was to make small directional changes. The early experimenters and inventors who preceded Orville and Wilbur Wright, who made their first flight in 1903, did not fully appreciate the necessity for positive control of the machine. Significance: Flight control systems allow pilots to adjust the speed, attitude, and direction of an aircraft. Definition: Electric, mechanical, and hydraulic systems that help to move an aircraft while flying.