Pushing the control stick forward causes the elevator to move __ and the nose to move __.

• A. Down; down
• B. Up; Up
• C. Down; Up
• D. Up; Down

Answer: (B)

Pushing the control stick forward is a pitch-down command. The elevator, which is the movable surface on the horizontal stabilizer, deflects downward in response to that input. This downward deflection changes the tail’s aerodynamic balance to create a nose-down pitching moment, so the nose moves downward. In short, forward stick input causes the elevator to move downward and the nose to move downward.

Sometimes you’ll see an answer key that conflicts with this standard mapping, but the common flight-control behavior is elevator deflects down for forward stick to produce nose-down pitch.