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Under normal circumstances, the car does not turn until commanded to do so; ditto the airplane. The driver and the pilot use their controls (definition of control: "the power to influence or direct ... the course of events") to manipulate forces for the desired result. Without these controls...

Once again the discussion diverges from the central thesis, which started with the question: "What is the primary control surface you use when turning an airplane?" Anecdotes about using rudder, asymmetric thrust, and even opening doors to turn are nice, but off point. To get things back on...

Hey Jaybird180. In its broadest sense, "the elevator pulls (or pushes) the nose of an airplane through arced flight" is too simple and too short to qualify. And I would be plagiarizing from Stick and Rudder and other wise tomes. Others here, however, continue to try to justify their points of...

Shh, don't tell that to the glider pilots. They won't be able to turn any more...

Yes, getting folks to think! I'm not sure how it confuses the issue, though, because ultimately the shape and quality of the arc are dictated by what the pilot chooses to do (or not do) with the elevator. Once banked, setting the elevator in position "X" will result in a turn with...

How does the "elevator neutral" turn violate the concept? For a given bank angle, there are a near infinite number of elevator positions and resulting turns/arcs between almost full aft and almost full forward elevator.

Watch the video. The default turn will be whatever the elevator trim has been set for. Next time you're out flying, why don't you experiment with turns to see what's doing what?

I forgot to add that pilots don't have to suck at flying (the sucking usually doesn't start until something novel or scary happens). If instructors did a better job of raising the stick and rudder skills of their students above the rote level, particularly as those skills relate to unusual...

You're on the right track, Greg -- you have linked the elevator to the wing, input with output! Some of the other posts leave the impression that once a bank has been established, the wing takes care of the rest and the pilot is relegated to that of observer. There is no connection between...

To get back to the central thesis: The elevator pulls the nose of the airplane around the turn. It's that simple.

Indeed, the rate of turn did vary as the bank angle varied, mostly because I was also varying the amount of elevator pressure to keep the nose tracking the horizon line -- less G as bank decreased, slightly more G as bank increased.

What if the pilot chooses not to turn? How is the air show pilot able to perform a knife-edge pass while remaining on heading, since in knife-edge, every bit of that lift from the wing would then be a horizontal component? (Hint: it has nothing to do with the rudder) Divorcing the elevator...

Discover, debate, but more importantly, become better observers of what we and our airplanes are doing at all times. As our awareness grows, so too does the appreciation for the magic we experience as pilots.

And what controls the magnitude of that lift? The elevator, hence the ability to either grow or shrink that horizontal component (and simultaneously, the vertical component) once a bank has been established. It's how air show pilots are able to perform 4-pt rolls and knife-edge passes without...

Insofar as the transition from the "straight and level line" to the "climbing line" requires bending the flightpath in much the same way as is done during a classic level turn, yes. The flare to landing (when pilots actually flare :wink2:) then, is the last piece of a loop/vertical turn...

If I'm straight an level, I am there because I have set the elevator to make it so. I can also be straight and level at 140 mph in my Decathlon and decide to perform a vertical turn (i.e., loop) first by pulling about +3.5 G on the elevator to bend the flightpath upward (the climbing part of the...

The wing does not turn the airplane. Forces act to move the airplane (or not), and we use the various controls to manipulate those forces for desired effects. Rudder controls the angle of attack of the fuselage; the ailerons control local angles of attack near the wingtips; the elevator controls...

What the pilot chooses to do with the elevator largely determines the bulk of the lift being produced by the wing, including: the magnitude of the lift (which can be zero when needed, as during the up line of a Hammerhead or in knife-edge flight; or +2 Gs worth for a level turn at 60 degrees of...

Loss of control-inflight remains the top cause of fatal accidents in general aviation and occurs most often while maneuvering. Most pilots memorize the "horizontal component of lift" mantra and learn to perform rudimentary turns under mostly ideal conditions. With the added stress of an...

Whoops, might help if I provided the correct direct link! http://www.safepilots.org/documents/SAIB_Maneuvering_Speed.pdf Sorry about that...