Name the primary flight controls and their basic functions.

• A. Name the primary flight controls and their basic functions: Ailerons control roll, elevators control pitch, and the rudder controls yaw; trim reduces control forces and helps maintain trimmed flight.
• B. Ailerons control pitch; elevators control yaw; rudder controls roll; trim increases control forces.
• C. Ailerons control yaw; elevators control roll; rudder controls pitch; trim has no effect.
• D. Flaps perform the primary roll control.

Answer: (A)

The main point is understanding how the primary flight controls steer the aircraft around its three axes and how trim helps the pilot manage those controls.

The primary controls are ailerons, elevators, and the rudder. Ailerons sit on the wings and create a difference in lift between the two wings, causing the airplane to roll about its front-to-back axis. Elevators are on the horizontal stabilizer and tilt the nose up or down, producing pitch about the side-to-side axis. The rudder, on the vertical stabilizer, moves the nose left or right to create yaw about the vertical axis. Trim is a separate mechanism that reduces the force the pilot must apply to hold a chosen attitude; it “remembers” a position of the control surface so the aircraft can maintain a steady flight path with less effort.

Flaps, by contrast, are high-lift devices used to change lift and drag during takeoff and landing, not for controlling roll directly, so they aren’t primary flight controls. The other options mix up which surfaces control which axis and misstate the effect of trim.