Alternative Control Surfaces

Some aircraft do not have ailerons or elevators because they do not have nor­mal wings and tail. Flying wing aircraft have no tail at all. These aircraft use a different type of control surface called an elevon, which is a tilting part at the back of the wing. Elevons combine the jobs of the ailerons and the elevators. If the elevons tilt up or down together, they work like elevators to raise or lower a plane’s nose. If they work in opposite
directions, one up and one down, they work like ailerons and make a plane roll.

Most airplanes have two small wing­like parts, one on each side of the tailfin. They are called tailplanes, or horizontal stabilizers. An elevator at the back of each stabilizer tilts up or down to con­trol pitch. Some planes have a different type of tailplane. The whole tailplane tilts instead of just the elevator. It does the job of the stabilizer and elevator together and is therefore sometimes called a stabilator. Other names for this part are all-moving tailplane or all­flying tailplane.

In some fighter planes, the pitch is controlled by small, tilting winglets on the nose known as canards.