It is the elevator which is attached to the horizontal stabilizer. Movement backward on the control column moves the elevator upward. Deflection of the elevator downward creates the opposite effect and the relative wind striking the lower surface of the elevator causes the tail to pitch up. This, as you can see in Figure 5- , pitches the nose of the aircraft downward and the airplane dives. Before leaving the horizontal stabilizer, we should introduce the term stabilizer.
Most aircraft designs no longer use a stabilizer with elevator arrangement.
Instead the entire horizontal tail surface is hinged so that the surface's angle of attack is changed as the pilot pulls or pushes on the control column. The Vertical Axis Press to see Animation 5-4 The third axis which passes through the meeting point of the longitudinal and lateral axes from the top of the aircraft to the bottom is called the vertical or yaw axis . In other words, the airplane's nose is made to point in a different direction when the airplane turns about this particular axis. The rudder is a movable control surface attached to the vertical fin of the tail assembly. When the pilot pushes the left rudder pedal, he or she then sets the rudder so that it deflects the relative air to the left.