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A flight control system consists of the flight control surfaces, the respective cockpit controls, connecting linkage, and necessary operating mechanisms to control aircraft in flight. more...

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The fundamentals of aircraft controls have been explained in aeronautics. Discussion here centers on the underlying mechanisms of the flight controls. Generally the cockpit controls are arranged like this:

Control yoke for roll which moves the ailerons; Control column for pitch which moves the elevators; Rudder pedals for yaw which moves the rudder;

Many aircraft use a control stick for both roll and pitch, and the rudder pedals for yaw.

Flight control systems

Mechanical

Mechanical flight control systems are the most basic designs. They were used in early aircraft and currently in small aeroplanes where the aerodynamic forces are not excessive. The flight control systems uses a collection of mechanical parts such as rods, cables, pulleys and sometimes chains to transmit the forces of the cockpit controls to the control surfaces. The Cessna Skyhawk is a typical example.

Since an increase in control surface area in bigger and faster aircraft leads to a large increase in the forces needed to move them, complicated mechanical arrangements are used to extract maximum mechanical advantage in order to make the forces required bearable to the pilots. This arrangement is found on bigger or higher performance propeller aircraft such as the Fokker 50.

Some mechanical flight control systems use servo tabs that provide aerodynamic assistance to reduce complexity. Servo tabs are small surfaces hinged to the control surfaces. The mechanisms move these tabs, aerodynamic forces in turn move the control surfaces reducing the amount of mechanical forces needed. This arrangement was used in early piston-engined transport aircraft and in early jet transports.

Hydromechanical

The complexity and weight of a mechanical flight control systems increases considerably with size and performance of the airplane. Hydraulic power overcomes these limitations. With hydraulic flight control systems aircraft size and performance are limited by economics rather than a pilot's strength.

A hydraulic flight control systems has 2 parts:

The mechanical circuit; The hydraulic circuit;

The mechanical circuit links the cockpit controls with the hydraulic circuits. Like the mechanical flight control systems, it is made of rods, cables, pulleys, and sometimes chains.

The hydraulic circuit has hydraulic pumps, pipes, valves and actuators. The actuators are powered by the hydraulic pressure generated by the pumps in the hydraulic circuit. The actuators convert hydraulic pressure into control surface movements. The servo valves control the movement of the actuators.

Read more at Wikipedia.org