Aircraft

Once it is in flight, an airplane is subject to three major types of movements: pitch, yaw, and roll. These three terms describe the possible motion of an airplane in each of three dimensions. Pitch, for example, refers to the tendency of an airplane to rotate in a forward or backward direction, tail-over-nose, or vice versa. Yaw is used to describe a horizontal motion, in which the airplane tends to rotate with the left wing forward and the right wing backward, or vice versa. Roll is the phenomenon in which an airplane twists vertically around the body, with the right wing sliding upward and the left wing downward, or vice versa.

Each of the above actions can, of course, result in an airplane's crashing, so methods must be available for preventing each. The horizontal tail at the back of an airplane body helps to prevent pitching. If the plane's nose should begin to dip or rise, the angle of attack on the tail changes, and the plane adjusts automatically. The pilot also has control over the vertical orientation of the plane's nose.

Roll is prevented by making a relatively modest adjustment in the orientation of the aircraft's wings. Instead of their being entirely horizontal to the ground, they are tipped upward at their outer edges in a very wide V shape. The shape is called a dihedral. When the airplane begins to roll over one direction or the other, the movement of air changes under each wing and the plane rights itself automatically.

Yawing is prevented partly by means of the vertical tail at the back of the airplane. As a plane's nose is pushed in one direction or the other, airflow over the tail changes, and the plane corrects its course automatically. A pilot also has control over vertical tail flaps and can adjust for yawing by shifting the plane's ailerons, flaps on the following edge of the wings and the rear horizontal tail.