Editing Flight control surfaces (section)

===Elevator===
{{main|Elevator (aircraft)}}

The [[Elevator (aircraft)|elevator]] is a moveable part of the [[horizontal stabilizer]], hinged to the back of the fixed part of the horizontal tail. The elevators move up and down together. When the pilot pulls the stick backward, the elevators go up. Pushing the stick forward causes the elevators to go down.  Raised elevators push down on the tail and cause the nose to pitch up. This makes the wings fly at a higher [[angle of attack]], which generates more lift and more [[drag (physics)|drag]].  Centering the stick returns the elevators to neutral and stops the change of pitch.  Some aircraft, such as an [[MD-80]], use a [[servo tab]] within the elevator surface to aerodynamically move the main surface into position.  The direction of travel of the control tab will thus be in a direction opposite to the main control surface.  It is for this reason that an [[MD-80]] tail looks like it has a 'split' elevator system.

In the [[canard (aeronautics)|canard arrangement]], the elevators are hinged to the rear of a foreplane and move in the opposite sense, for example when the pilot pulls the stick back the elevators go down to increase the lift at the front and lift the nose up.