Editing Flight control surfaces (section)

===Turning the aircraft===
{{Main|Banked turn#Banked turn in aeronautics}}
Unlike turning a boat, changing the direction of an aircraft normally must be done with the ailerons rather than the rudder. The rudder turns (yaws) the aircraft but has little effect on its direction of travel. With aircraft, the change in direction is caused by the horizontal component of lift, acting on the wings. The pilot tilts the lift force, which is perpendicular to the wings, in the direction of the intended turn by rolling the aircraft into the turn. As the bank angle is increased, the lifting force can be split into two components: one acting vertically and one acting horizontally.

If the total lift is kept constant, the vertical component of lift will decrease. As the weight of the aircraft is unchanged, this would result in the aircraft descending if not countered. To maintain level flight requires increased positive (up) elevator to increase the angle of attack, increase the total lift generated and keep the vertical component of lift equal with the weight of the aircraft. This cannot continue indefinitely. The total [[Load factor (aeronautics)|load factor]] required to maintain level flight is [[Banked turn#Aviation|directly related to the bank angle]]. This means that for a given airspeed, level flight can only be maintained up to a certain given angle of bank. Beyond this angle of bank, the aircraft will suffer an accelerated [[stall (flight)|stall]] if the pilot attempts to generate enough lift to maintain level flight.