Helicopter Flight Controls Chapter 3 Introduction There are three major controls in a helicopter that the pilot  must use during flight. They are the collective pitch control,  the cyclic pitch control, and the antitorque pedals or tail rotor  control. In addition to these major controls, the pilot must also  use the throttle control, which is usually mounted directly  to the collective pitch control in order to fly the helicopter.  In this chapter, the control systems described are not limited  to the single main rotor type helicopter but are employed  in one form or another in most helicopter configurations.  All examples in this chapter refer to a counterclockwise  main rotor blade rotation as viewed from above. If flying a  helicopter with a clockwise rotation, left and right references  must be reversed, particularly in the areas of rotor blade pitch  change, antitorque pedal movement, and tail rotor thrust.