Aircraft principal axes

This article is about yaw, pitch, and roll as symmetry axes

of a plane. For meaning in mechanics, see Moment of in-
ertia Principal axes of inertia. For Euler angles with the
same names, see Euler angles TaitBryan angles.
An aircraft in ight is free to rotate in three dimensions:

Yaw, Pitch and Roll in an aircraft

pitch, nose up or down about an axis running from wing to

wing; yaw, nose left or right about an axis running up and
down; and roll, rotation about an axis running from nose
to tail. The axes are alternatively designated as lateral,
vertical, and longitudinal. These axes move with the ve- Yaw/heading, pitch and roll angles and associated vertical
hicle and rotate relative to the Earth along with the craft. (down), transverse and longitudinal axes
These denitions were analogously applied to spacecraft
when the rst manned spacecraft were designed in the late
1950s. Parallel to the fuselage station.
These rotations are produced by torques (or moments)
about the principal axes. On an aircraft, these are in-
tentionally produced by means of moving control sur- Lateral axis, transverse axis, or pitch axis an axis
faces, which vary the distribution of the net aerodynamic running from the pilots left to right in piloted air-
force about the vehicles center of mass. Elevators (mov- craft, and parallel to the wings of a winged aircraft.
ing aps on the horizontal tail) produce pitch, a rudder Parallel to the buttock line.
on the vertical tail produces yaw, and ailerons (aps
on the wings that move in opposing directions) produce
roll. On a spacecraft, the moments are usually produced Longitudinal axis, or roll axis an axis drawn
by a reaction control system consisting of small rocket through the body of the vehicle from tail to nose in
thrusters used to apply asymmetrical thrust on the vehi- the normal direction of ight, or the direction the
cle. pilot faces. Parallel to the waterline.

Normally, these axes are represented by the letters X,

1 Principal axes Y and Z in order to compare them with some reference
frame, usually named x, y, z. Normally, this is made in
Normal axis, or yaw axis an axis drawn from top such a way that the X is used for the longitudinal axis, but
to bottom, and perpendicular to the other two axes. there are other possibilities to do it.

1
2 5
Pitch Axis
Roll Axis
Yaw Axis
The position of all three axes, with the right-hand rule for its
rotations
1.1 Vertical axis (yaw)
The vertical yaw axis is dened to be perpendicular to
the wings and to the normal line of ight with its origin
at the center of gravity and directed towards the bottom
of the aircraft. Yaw moves the nose of the aircraft from
side to side. A positive yaw, or heading angle, moves the
nose to the right.[1][2] The rudder is the primary control
of yaw.[3]
1.2 Lateral axis (pitch)
The pitch axis (also called lateral or transverse axis[4] )
passes through the plane from wingtip to wingtip. Pitch
moves the aircrafts nose up and down. A positive pitch
angle raises the nose and lowers the tail. The elevators
are the primary control of pitch.[3]
1.3 Longitudinal (roll)
The roll axis (or longitudinal axis[4] ) passes through the
plane from nose to tail. The angular displacement about
this axis is called bank.[3] The pilot changes bank angle
by increasing the lift on one wing and decreasing it on the
other. A positive roll angle lifts the left wing and lowers
the right wing. The ailerons are the primary control of
bank. The rudder also has a secondary eect on bank.[5]
2 Relationship with other systems
of axes
These axes are related to the principal axes of inertia, but
are not the same. They are geometrical symmetry axes,
regardless of the mass distribution of the aircraft.
In aeronautical and aerospace engineering intrinsic rota-
tions around these axes are often called Euler angles, but
REFERENCES
this conicts with existing usage elsewhere. The calcu-
lus behind them is similar to the FrenetSerret formu-
las. Performing a rotation in an intrinsic reference frame
is equivalent to right-multiplying its characteristic matrix
(the matrix that has the vector of the reference frame as
columns) by the matrix of the rotation.
3 History
The rst aircraft to demonstrate active control about all
three axes was the Wright brothers' 1902 glider.[6]
4 See also
Aerodynamic
Aircraft ight control system
Euler angles
Fixed-wing aircraft
Flight control surfaces
Flight dynamics
Moving frame
Panning (camera)
Screw theory
Triad Method
5 References
[1] Yaw axis. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
[2] Specialty Denition: YAW AXIS. Retrieved 2008-07-
31.
[3] Clancy, L.J. (1975) Aerodynamics Pitman Publishing
Limited, London ISBN 0-273-01120-0, Section 16.6
[4] MISB Standard 0601 (PDF). Motion Imagery Standards
Board (MISB). Retrieved 1 May 2015. Also at File:MISB
Standard 0601.pdf.
[5] FAA (2004). Airplane Flying Handbook. Washington
D.C.:U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Avia-
tion Administration, ch 4, p 2, FAA-8083-3A.
[6] Aircraft rotations. Archived from the original on 4 July
2008. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
 3

6 External links
Yaw Axis Control as a Means of Improving V/STOL
Aircraft Performance.
3D fast walking simulation of biped robot by yaw
axis moment compensation

Flight control system for a hybrid aircraft in the yaw

axis
4 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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