Flight Controls: Primary Flight Controls
Flight control surfaces are used to control an aircraft's direction in flight. The flight controls are separated into 2 classes: the primary flight controls and the secondary flight controls. In this article, the primary flight controls are discussed.
The primary flight controls are: the rudder, the elevators and the ailerons.
1) The ailerons
The ailerons are movable parts on the wing. They are controlled by the stick. When you turn the stick (just like a steering wheel in a car) to the left, the ailerons move as such that the right aileron goes down and the left aileron goes up. This makes the airplane turn left.
When you turn the stick to the right, the right aileron goes up and the left aileron goes down. This makes the airplane turn right.
2) The rudder 
The rudder is the vertical part of the tail. It can move to the left & right by pushing the corresponding rudder pedal, which are placed by the feet of the pilot. A pilot uses the rudder to keep the airplane's nose pointed in the direction of the turn - not to turn the airplane! Rudder input corrects the forces that want to twist the airplane in a direction other than the direction it wants to turn (= adverse yaw).
3) The elevators: going up and down
The elevators are the horizontal part of the tail. You control them, just like the ailerons, with the stick. But to move the elevators, the pilot has to pull or push on the stick. When the pilot pulls on the stick, the elevators raise and the airplane goes upwards. When the pilot pushes on the stick, the elevators move down and the airplane goes also down.
