The objective of this practical preflight lesson is to review how an airplane's attitude is recognized in relation to the horizon, how pitch, roll and yaw change that attitude, and how the flight controls are used to produce and control those movements. These basic concepts are the foundation for straight-and-level flight, climbs, descents and turns.
What Do We Mean by Aircraft Attitude and Movement?
Before working on individual flight maneuvers, it is important to separate two closely related ideas: the attitude of the airplane and the movement used to change that attitude.
Attitude Describes the Airplane's Position
Aircraft attitude describes the airplane's orientation relative to the horizon. The nose may be above or below the horizon, and the wings may be level or banked.
Movement Changes the Attitude
The three basic aircraft movements are pitch, roll and yaw. These movements change the airplane's attitude around its three axes.
Control Input → Movement → New Attitude
Aircraft Attitude Is Not Altitude
Attitude describes how the airplane is oriented relative to the horizon. Altitude describes how high the airplane is relative to a specified reference. An airplane can change its attitude without immediately making a significant change in altitude.
Use the Horizon to Recognize Aircraft Attitude
In visual flight, the natural horizon is one of the most useful references for recognizing aircraft attitude. Looking outside helps the pilot judge both the position of the nose and the position of the wings.
Build a Consistent Picture Outside
Look straight ahead and notice where the horizon appears in the windshield. This outside picture provides a reference that can be used to recognize and maintain a desired attitude.
Look at the nose. Its position relative to the horizon helps you recognize the airplane's pitch attitude.
Look at the wings. Their angle relative to the horizon helps you recognize whether the airplane is level or banked.
Remember the picture. A stable visual reference makes it easier to notice small changes in attitude.
The Exact Windshield Picture Varies
The precise position of the horizon in the windshield depends on the airplane, the pilot's seating position and the flight condition. Use the visual reference demonstrated in the aircraft you are flying rather than relying on a fixed distance between the dashboard and the horizon.
Cruise Attitude: Your Basic Visual Reference
The cruise attitude provides a useful reference picture from which other aircraft attitudes can be compared. Changes in pitch or bank become easier to recognize once this normal visual picture is familiar.
In straight-and-level cruise, the airplane should present a stable pitch picture while the wings remain level and parallel to the horizon.
Recognize the Attitude Outside Before Checking the Instruments
In visual flight, first establish the aircraft attitude using the outside horizon. Then use the flight instruments to confirm what you see rather than keeping your attention inside the cockpit.
Confirm the Cruise Attitude on the Instruments
Once the outside attitude is established, make a brief instrument cross-check to confirm that the airplane is doing what the outside visual picture suggests.
Use the instruments as confirmation of the attitude established outside. The attitude indicator provides a direct indication of pitch and bank, while the other flight instruments help confirm that the desired flight condition is being maintained.
Pitch: Moving the Nose Up or Down
Pitch is the movement that changes the position of the airplane's nose relative to the horizon. This movement is controlled with the elevator through forward or backward movement of the control column.
Watch the Nose Against the Horizon
From the cockpit, pitch is recognized primarily by watching how the nose moves in relation to the horizon. A change in pitch produces a new nose-up or nose-down attitude.
Move the Control Column Back
Backward movement of the control column produces a pitching movement that raises the nose relative to the horizon.
Move the Control Column Forward
Forward movement of the control column produces a pitching movement that lowers the nose relative to the horizon.
What Produces Pitch?
Pitch Movement and Pitch Attitude Are Not the Same Thing
Pitch movement is the motion of the airplane's nose up or down. Pitch attitude is the position of the airplane's nose relative to the horizon — nose up, level, or nose down.
Roll: Banking the Airplane Left or Right
Roll is the movement that changes the angle of the wings relative to the horizon. The resulting position of the wings is the airplane's bank attitude.
Watch the Wings Against the Horizon
From the cockpit, bank attitude is recognized by comparing the wings with the horizon. With the wings level, they remain approximately parallel to the horizon. As the airplane rolls, one wing lowers while the other rises.
Roll is produced with the ailerons. Moving the control column left or right changes the lift produced by each wing and rolls the airplane about its longitudinal axis.
Control Column Left
Move the control column left. The airplane rolls left and begins to establish a left bank attitude.
Reduce the Aileron Input
As the desired bank angle is reached, reduce the aileron input and bring the control column back toward neutral.
Control Column Right
Move the control column right. The airplane rolls right and begins to establish a right bank attitude.
What Produces Roll?
Bank Attitude Is Used to Establish a Turn
Bank is one part of performing a coordinated turn, together with rudder and pitch control. The complete procedure for entering, maintaining and recovering from a turn will be covered in detail in the Turn Pre-Flight Lesson.
Roll Is the Movement — Bank Is the Attitude
Roll is the movement about the longitudinal axis. Bank attitude is the resulting angle of the wings relative to the horizon.
Yaw: Moving the Nose Left or Right
Yaw is the movement of the airplane's nose to the left or right about its vertical axis. The primary flight control used to control yaw is the rudder.
Control Yaw with the Rudder Pedals
From the cockpit, yaw appears as the nose moving sideways relative to the airplane's flight path. The rudder is controlled with the pedals and is used to control this movement.
Pressing a rudder pedal deflects the rudder and yaws the airplane in the direction of the pedal being pressed.
Press the Left Pedal
Left rudder moves the nose of the airplane to the left.
Use Only the Rudder You Need
Rudder pressure is adjusted as needed to control yaw and keep the airplane properly coordinated.
Press the Right Pedal
Right rudder moves the nose of the airplane to the right.
What Controls Yaw?
Use the Ball to Check Coordination
The slip-skid indicator provides a useful check of coordination. When the ball is centered, the airplane is coordinated. A ball displaced to one side indicates that additional coordination with the rudder is required.
Pitch, Roll and Yaw Use Three Different Axes
Pitch occurs about the lateral axis, roll about the longitudinal axis, and yaw about the vertical axis. Together, these three movements describe how the airplane can move around its three axes.
Why Does the Airplane Tend to Yaw?
In a typical single-engine training airplane, several propeller effects can influence the airplane's tendency to turn or yaw. Understanding these effects helps explain why rudder input is often required to maintain coordinated flight.
Torque
As the engine turns the propeller, an opposite reaction acts on the airplane. In a conventional training airplane with a clockwise-turning propeller as viewed from the cockpit, this reaction tends to roll the airplane to the left.
The effect becomes particularly noticeable when high power is combined with low airspeed and a high angle of attack, such as during takeoff and initial climb.
Spiraling Slipstream
The rotating propeller creates a spiraling flow of air around the airplane. This slipstream can strike the vertical tail and produce a yawing tendency.
With the propeller rotation described in this lesson, the slipstream tends to yaw the airplane to the left. Appropriate right rudder is used to counteract that tendency.
P-Factor
At higher angles of attack, the descending propeller blade can produce more thrust than the ascending blade. This asymmetric loading of the propeller is known as P-factor.
In the propeller configuration described here, the result is a tendency for the nose to yaw to the left, requiring appropriate right rudder correction.
Gyroscopic Precession
A spinning propeller also behaves like a gyroscope. When a force changes the orientation of the propeller disc, the resulting gyroscopic reaction acts at another point in the plane of rotation.
This effect is called gyroscopic precession and can contribute to a yawing moment when the orientation of the spinning propeller disc changes.
Do Not Memorize a Fixed Rudder Position
The practical objective is to recognize when the airplane is beginning to yaw and use the rudder as needed to maintain coordinated flight.
Ailerons Can Also Produce Yaw
Propeller effects are not the only source of yaw. When the ailerons are used to roll the airplane, the difference in drag between the wings can produce adverse yaw.
Why the Nose Moves Opposite the Roll
When the ailerons are used to start a roll, the airplane may also yaw in the opposite direction. This tendency is called adverse yaw.
Ailerons Produce Both Lift and Drag
To roll the airplane, one aileron moves down while the other moves up. The wing with the downward-deflected aileron produces more lift, but it also produces more drag.
That difference in drag tends to pull the nose toward the rising wing — opposite the direction of the intended roll. This is why aileron and rudder inputs must be coordinated.
The Airplane Begins to Roll
Moving the control column changes the position of the ailerons and creates a difference in lift between the wings.
One Wing Produces More Drag
The wing producing more lift also produces additional drag, creating a yawing tendency opposite the roll.
Coordinate the Roll
Appropriate rudder pressure is used with the ailerons to control adverse yaw and keep the maneuver coordinated.
Example: Rolling to the Right
When the control column is moved to the right, the right aileron moves up and the left aileron moves down.
Lift decreases on the right wing and increases on the left wing, causing the airplane to roll right. At the same time, the additional drag on the left wing tends to yaw the nose toward the left.
Aileron and Rudder Work Together During a Roll
When entering or leaving a bank, coordinate the aileron input with the appropriate rudder pressure. The objective is a smooth roll without allowing the nose to yaw away from the intended direction of the maneuver.
Keep Looking Outside the Airplane
Maintaining the correct aircraft attitude is only part of flying visually. The pilot must also maintain an effective lookout for other aircraft and potential conflicts.
Look Outside Before and During Every Maneuver
Collision avoidance in visual conditions requires continuous awareness of the airspace around the airplane. Before changing attitude or direction, check the area into which the airplane will move.
Do not fix your attention on one point for too long. Instead, scan different parts of the sky systematically and pause briefly in each area so your eyes can focus.
Check the Area
Look for other aircraft before changing pitch, bank or direction.
Keep Scanning
Continue moving your attention through different areas of the sky rather than staring in one direction.
Keep Glances Brief
Check the instruments when necessary, then bring your attention back outside.
Use a Systematic Scan Technique
A useful scan divides the visible sky into smaller areas rather than trying to search the entire windshield at once.
Divide the sky into blocks of approximately 10 to 15 degrees, including the area above and below the horizon. Pause briefly in each block before moving your eyes to the next one.
Side-to-Side Scan
Start at one side of your visual field and move methodically across to the other side. Pause briefly in each viewing block to focus before continuing.
Front-to-Side Scan
Begin near the center of the windshield, scan toward one side while pausing in each block, return to the center, and repeat the scan toward the other side.
Outside — Scan — Instruments — Outside
Keep most of your attention outside, scan the surrounding airspace systematically, use brief instrument checks when needed, and then return your attention outside.
Use the Clock Code to Report Other Aircraft
Once another aircraft has been spotted, the clock code provides a quick way to describe where it is in relation to your airplane.
Imagine a Clock Around the Airplane
Imagine the airplane at the center of a clock face. An aircraft directly ahead is at 12 o'clock, while an aircraft directly behind is at 6 o'clock.
Other clock positions describe traffic to the left or right. You can then add its relative height and estimated distance to make the report more useful.
Give the Clock Position
Use the clock face to describe where the other aircraft is relative to your airplane.
Add High or Low
Indicate whether the traffic appears high or low relative to your airplane.
Estimate the Distance
Add an approximate distance when possible so the other pilot knows how far away the traffic appears to be.
Traffic Below Your Left Wing
You see another aircraft below your left wingtip approximately one mile away. Combine the direction, relative height and distance in one short report:
Keep the Report Short and Clear
Think in this order: clock position → high or low → distance. The objective is to help another pilot locate the traffic quickly while continuing the outside lookout.
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Review Questions
Before the flight, use these questions to check that the main attitude, control and lookout concepts are clear.
1 What do we call an attitude with the nose above the horizon?
2 What do we call an attitude with the nose below the horizon?
3 How should the wings appear in a normal wings-level cruise attitude?
4 What happens to the nose when the control column is moved backward?
5 What happens to the nose when the control column is moved forward?
6 Which way does the airplane roll when the control column is moved to the right?
7 Which propeller effects can contribute to yaw?
8 Which primary flight control is used to control yaw?
9 Using the clock code, where is an aircraft directly ahead?
What You Should Remember Before Your Flight
Use the horizon as your visual reference. Recognize the position of the nose and wings outside.
Pitch with the elevator. Forward and backward control-column movement changes the nose position.
Roll with the ailerons. Left or right control-column movement changes bank attitude.
Control yaw with the rudder. Use the rudder pedals as needed to maintain coordination.
Look outside first. Establish the visual attitude outside, then use the instruments to confirm it.
Keep scanning for traffic. Maintain an active lookout and use the clock code to describe traffic quickly.
Attitude Starts with What You See Outside
Learn the normal sight picture for the airplane you are flying. Small changes in the relationship between the nose, wings and horizon help you recognize changes in pitch and bank, while coordinated use of the rudder controls unwanted yaw.
Straight and Level Flight
Continue to the next lesson in the Basic Maneuvers sequence.
