Which component isn’t a flight control in fixed-wing aircraft, and why it matters

Flight controls vs. the rest: what actually steers the aircraft?

If you’ve ever watched a cockpit video or listen to a pilot describe steering the airplane, you’ve heard about flight controls. But what exactly counts as a control surface, and what’s just structural support? Here’s the short version you can tuck away in your mental model: the flight controls are the surfaces you move to change the aircraft’s path. Struts, on the other hand, are sturdy frames that hold stuff up and keep the wings and fuselage aligned. They don’t steer the airplane. Here’s why that distinction matters and how to keep it straight in your head.

What counts as a flight control?

Think of a flight control as a lever you pull or a surface you push, which makes the airplane do something in the air. The big three that most people memorize first are ailerons, elevators, and flaps.

• Ailerons: These little hinged panels live on the wing’s trailing edge. Move one up and the other down, and the airplane rolls to the left or right. In other words, they tilt the aircraft around its long axis, letting you bank into a turn.

• Elevators: Found on the horizontal tailplane, elevators adjust the pitch of the nose up or down. Push the stick forward and the nose dips; pull back and it climbs. This is how you control the aircraft’s attitude vertically.

• Flaps: Slotted or hinged surfaces on the wing’s trailing edge, near the fuselage. When extended, flaps increase lift and drag, which lets you rise at lower speeds—handy for takeoffs and landings. They’re not used during cruise, but they’re a tool in the pilot’s kit when you need more lift at slower airspeeds.

Those three are the stars in many fixed-wing references, which is why you’ll see them listed as primary flight controls in standard overviews. They’re the surfaces you actively move to steer the airplane through pitch, roll, and lift management.

If you scratch your head and wonder, “What about the rudder?” you’re right to bring it up. The rudder, located on the vertical tail, helps control yaw (the side-to-side movement of the nose). It’s often taught alongside the other controls as part of the core control set. In some quick-reference guides, you’ll see rudder listed separately, but it’s definitely a key control surface in many fixed-wing systems too.

Struts: the unsung backbone

Now, let’s meet the other big world in the airplane: the structural pieces. Struts are one of those terms that describe purpose more than action. A strut is a structural member—think of it as a supportive bar or rod—that transfers loads. On airplanes, struts can connect the wings to the fuselage, brace wings in some older biplanes, or hold gear and other components in place. Their job is to carry forces, keep geometry correct, and maintain structural integrity under flight loads.

A quick mental image: when you look at a classic biplane, those crisscrossed supports between wings are struts. In modern airliners, you’ll often see cantilever wings with fewer external supports, but the idea remains: struts bear load, they don’t steer.

So the rule of thumb is simple: move the flight controls, and you steer the airplane. Adjust the struts, and you keep the airframe sturdy. One shifts the airplane’s path; the other keeps the airplane from collapsing under load.

Why the distinction matters in real life

• Safety and predictability: Pilots rely on consistent, predictable responses from the aircraft. Knowing which pieces change the flight path and which hold the aircraft up helps you anticipate how the airplane will react to control inputs.

• Maintenance and systems thinking: When you’re diagnosing issues, you ask: is this a surface that moves or a structural member that supports? Mixing them up can lead to confusion about what’s out of alignment or what needs service.

• Training and terminology: In aviation literature (and in classrooms on the topic), there’s a clear line between control surfaces (that you move via the control column, yoke, pedals) and structural components (that stay fixed unless a failure occurs). This distinction isn’t just pedantry—it makes it easier to understand flight dynamics, aerodynamics, and the limits of the airframe.

A little nuance worth noting

Flaps sit in an interesting spot. Some sources label them as flight controls because they actively modulate lift and drag, affecting the aircraft’s ability to climb or descend at lower speeds. Others describe them as high-lift devices that are not “controls” in the sense of steering in cruise. For most quick-reference material you’ll encounter, flaps are included with the set of control surfaces used during certain phases of flight (takeoff and landing) to influence lift and approach speed. The key takeaway: they influence flight, but their primary role isn’t steering the airplane in the same way the ailerons and elevators do.

Let me explain with a simple analogy

Imagine driving a car with a rack of handles on the dashboard. The steering wheel (your primary control for direction) is like the ailerons and elevators for a plane: move it, and you change your path. The gas and brake pedals influence speed but don’t steer, just like flaps adjust lift and drag rather than direction. Now, if you had a supporting frame that held up the car’s body—its chassis and suspension—that would be more like a strut: essential for stability and safety, but not something you’d push to steer.

How to tell the difference in the cockpit of knowledge

• If moving something changes the aircraft’s attitude (nose up or down, wings tilting, or the aircraft rolling), it’s a control surface. That includes ailerons, elevators, and flaps.

• If moving something changes nothing about the aircraft’s current path but simply supports the structure or changes how it feels under load, it’s a structural piece. That includes struts, wing spars, and many other rigid components tucked into the airframe.

A quick glossary you can keep handy

• Ailerons: Roll control; located on the wing trailing edge.

• Elevators: Pitch control; on the horizontal stabilizer.

• Flaps: Lift and drag control; on the wing trailing edge, near the fuselage.

• Rudder: Yaw control; on the vertical tail.

• Struts: Structural supports; carry loads and maintain geometry.

In the real world, things aren’t always cut-and-dried

Aircraft systems are intricate, and there are times when components interact in surprising ways. For example, deploying flaps changes lift and drag, which can alter the dynamic stability of the airplane. In some cases, flight-control systems use spoilers or other surfaces to aid roll control or to help with speedbrake function. The broader lesson isn’t to memorize a single list forever; it’s to understand the underlying principle: controls are the surfaces you actively move to change the flight path, while structural members are there to keep the airplane safe and sound.

A flight-control mindset you can carry forward

• Keep the three big levers in mind: roll (ailerons), pitch (elevators), and lift modification (flaps). Those are your go-to levers for altering the aircraft’s attitude and speed during critical phases like takeoff and landing.

• Remember the “structure first” rule: if you’re studying how the airframe holds up under load or you’re looking at maintenance diagrams, you’ll be focusing on struts and other fixed members—not on how the plane changes its flight path.

• Use real-world references to reinforce this boundary. The FAA’s pilot materials and reputable aviation texts describe these systems clearly, and hands-on cockpit tours can illuminate how surfaces move in concert to create the familiar flight envelope.

A touch of everyday realism

When you step back from the numbers and dive into this topic, you’ll start noticing the same pattern in other machines. Consider a sailboat: the hull and mast provide structural support, while the rudder and sails actively steer and drive the craft. In airplanes, the balance is similar, just with air instead of water. The idea is to separate structure from control—to know what you move to steer, and what you move to keep the machine sturdy enough to fly.

What to remember for quick recall

• Struts = structural support; not a flight control.

• Ailerons, elevators, (and often flaps) = surfaces you move to change the aircraft’s path.

• Flaps have a lift-drag role; they’re critical during takeoff and landing, but they aren’t the primary steering surfaces in cruise flight.

• Rudder = additional control surface for yaw (often taught with the primary three for a complete picture).

Bringing it all together

You don’t need to memorize every possible nuance to get this right. The core idea is straightforward: flight controls are the moving surfaces that steer the airplane and adjust its attitude; struts are the supportive members that keep the airframe sound. With that lens, you can parse diagrams, maintenance schematics, and cockpit layouts without getting tangled in jargon or conflating functions.

If you want to deepen your understanding, check out a few reliable sources that lay out the basics cleanly. The FAA’s Airplane Flying Handbook and reputable aviation references often present the same distinction in clear diagrams and plain language. A quick glossary or a cockpit tour video can reinforce the mental model better than a paragraph-long explanation.

A final thought

Aviation is a symphony of precision where every part has a role—no part is there by accident. By keeping the difference between flight controls and structural components at the forefront, you sharpen your intuition for how airplanes behave. It’s a practical, down-to-earth insight that pays off whether you’re reading a schematic, analyzing a flight manual, or simply imagining the next time you’ll feel the wind in your face from behind the controls. And when you picture struts in your head, you’ll see them not as “moving parts” but as the sturdy scaffolding that keeps the whole performance safe and sound, so the flight controls can do their leading work.