British Young Pilots · Flying Training · Module FT-4.1INSTRUCTOR
Stand up and be the aeroplane, arms out as wings. Nod your head: that is pitch, nose up and down. Tip one arm down and the other up: that is roll. Twist to look over your shoulder: that is yaw, nose swinging left or right. Every move an aeroplane makes is one of these three, or a mix, each turning about an imaginary line through its middle.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.30 and p.34.
An aeroplane rotates about three imaginary lines through its centre of gravity (CG). Pitching (nose up and down) is motion about the lateral axis, wingtip to wingtip. Rolling is motion about the longitudinal axis, nose to tail. Yawing (nose left and right) is motion about the normal axis. The pilot commands each one with a main flight control: the elevator controls pitch, the ailerons control roll, the rudder controls yaw.
Stability is the aeroplane's own tendency to hold its attitude, or return to it after a gust, with no help from you. Most trainers are reasonably stable in pitch: trimmed, they fly hands-off with the nose steady against the horizon. Roll and yaw stability are weaker: a dropped wing can become a descending spiral turn unless you level the wings.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.30 and p.34.
The elevator is the flap on the back of the tailplane. Pull the stick back and the elevator tips up: air pushes the tail down, so the nose comes up. Push the stick forward and the opposite happens: nose down. Pilots use it to park the nose where they want it against the horizon.
Try it: bend the back edge of your paper aeroplane's tail up a little and throw it. It noses up and climbs. Bend it down and it dives. You have built an elevator.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.31 and p.36–37.
The elevator is worked by fore and aft movement of the control column. Conventionally it is hinged to the rear of the tailplane; some types use an all-flying tail, a stabilator, one moving surface doing both jobs, with the same effect. Column back: elevator up, a downward force on the tail, rotation about the CG, nose up. Column forward: nose down. Bigger deflection, faster pitch. At normal speeds the inputs are small and feel like pressure rather than movement.
Use the column to put the nose where you want it against the horizon (to set the pitch attitude), then centralise. Airwork: from level, column gently forward, nose pitches down, centralise, airspeed increases. Column gently back, nose pitches up, centralise, airspeed decreases.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.31–32 and p.36–37.
The ailerons are the flaps on the outer back edge of each wing, and they always move opposite ways. Stick left: the left aileron goes up and the right one goes down. The right wing gets more lift and rises, the left wing gets less and drops, and the aeroplane rolls left. Let the stick go back to the middle and the rolling stops, leaning where it is.
Try it: bend one wing's back edge up and the other wing's down on your paper aeroplane. Throw it and watch it corkscrew.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.32.
The ailerons are hinged to the outboard trailing edge of each wing and are worked by rotating the control wheel or moving the column left and right. So the column does two jobs: fore and aft for the elevator, sideways for the ailerons. Column, wheel and side-stick all perform the same function.
One aileron goes down and adds lift to its wing; the other goes up and reduces lift on its wing; the aeroplane rolls. Column left: left aileron up, right aileron down, roll left. The roll continues for as long as the ailerons are deflected, at a rate set by how far they are deflected. Centralise and the ailerons go neutral, the rolling stops and the bank angle reached is held. Airwork: wings level, rotate left, it rolls left; centralise, steady bank; rotate right to level, centralise as the wings come level; repeat with different amounts.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.32 and p.36–37.
The rudder is the flap on the back of the fin, and your feet work it. Push the left pedal and the rudder swings left, the air shoves the tail right, and the nose swings left, like a boat's rudder swinging the bow round. Right pedal, nose right. It is not how pilots turn (that feels like turning a bike without leaning). Its everyday job is keeping the little balance ball in the middle of its tube: ball slides right, press right pedal.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.33 and p.38.
The rudder is hinged to the rear of the fin and worked with both feet on the interconnected pedals (one forward, the other back). Left pedal forward deflects the rudder left, the fin is pushed right, and the aeroplane rotates about its CG: nose yaws left. Right pedal, nose right. Yawing alone is uncomfortable and inefficient (it adds drag), like turning a bicycle without leaning.
The rudder's main everyday job is to prevent unwanted yaw: keeping flight balanced. Out of balance, the balance ball slides to one side and you feel pushed the same way; apply same-side rudder pressure to centre it. Airwork: pick a reference point on the horizon, apply left rudder pressure, the nose yaws left and the ball is thrown right; centralise; repeat right. Whatever the attitude, banked or nose-high, every control still works in the same sense relative to the aeroplane.
STRETCHThreat and Error Management (TEM) for this exercise: the threat is other aircraft, so look out most of the time. The errors are two people on dual controls (fixed by "You have control" / "I have control") and clumsy inputs (fixed by following through, holding the controls lightly and using pressure, not big movements).
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.33–35, p.38 and p.39.
Why the tail moves. Elevator up speeds the airflow beneath the tailplane and lowers the static pressure there, so the net aerodynamic force on the tail acts downward and the aeroplane pitches nose-up about its CG. Rudder left speeds the flow on the right side of the fin, lowering the pressure there, so the fin is pushed right and the nose yaws left. Same mechanism, different axis; a stabilator produces the same result as a hinged elevator.
Primary versus further effect. A single control can have more than one effect. Bank tilts the lift vector, giving it a sideways component; the aeroplane sideslips towards the lower wing, the airflow strikes the keel surfaces behind the CG (fin and fuselage) and the nose yaws towards the slip. The nose drops and a spiral descent begins unless the wings are levelled. Primary effect of ailerons: roll. Further effect: yaw. Module FT-4.2 takes this on.
Source: Pooleys Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.31, p.33, p.37 and p.40.
Misconception 1: "the rudder turns the aeroplane." Pooleys' bicycle line kills it: a yawing turn is like turning a bike without leaning. Ailerons bank, rudder balances.
Misconception 2: "the elevator makes it go up." It sets the nose attitude; the airspeed changes as a result. Attitude first, then centralise.
Props: one paper aeroplane per pair. Fold, fly, then bend one surface at a time (tail edge up, one wing edge up and the other down, a small tab on the fin) and fly again. The class sees pitch, roll and yaw happen.
Hook: "stand up and be the aeroplane" (nod, tilt, twist) before a word of theory. Then the game: it is Wings sign-offs 1.2 and 1.3 in one screen.
Delivery tip: pressures, not movements. Let students "follow through" on the sim yoke while you demonstrate, and use the "You have control" / "I have control" handover every time, even on the sim.
Wings delivery: project the four Foundations cards in Present mode (about 12 minutes, one wobble per card), run the paper-aeroplane activity (10 minutes), then play the Which-control game on the projector with the class calling answers (5 minutes). Sim slot afterwards: elevator first (attitude and airspeed), then ailerons, then rudder against a reference point, exactly the Airwork 4a order.
Instructor copy only. Sources: Vol 1 (15th ed.) p.30–40.
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