Controlling an Airplane A powered airplane has four distinct sets of controls. Rudder, ailerons, elevators and lift flaps.

To increase the amount of lift generated from an airplane's wings, one would use lift flaps. These flaps work in unison to generate as much lift as possible durring takeoff and slow the plane for landing.

The vertical stabilizer or rudder controls the side to side motion in the nose. This is called yaw

To control the up and down motion of an aircraft's nose, a set of controls called elevators are used. Unlike ailerons, elevators are used in unision to point the nose of the aircraft skyward, downward or level with the ground. This up and down motion in the nose of the plane is called Pitch.

An airplane has another set of controls known as the ailerons. The ailerons make the plane bank to the left or right. This banking of a plane to the right or left is known as roll.