Definition
Foot pedals in a helicopter cockpit used to control the pitch of the tail rotor blades, which counteracts the torque produced by the main rotor and controls the helicopter's heading while in a hover.
Plain English
The two foot pedals a helicopter pilot uses to stop the helicopter from spinning the wrong way and to point the nose left or right when hovering.
Context Anchor
Seen when learning the basic helicopter flight controls: cyclic, collective, throttle, and anti-torque pedals.
Derivation
‘Anti-’ comes from Greek meaning ‘against,’ and ‘torque’ comes from Latin ‘torquere,’ meaning ‘to twist.’ So ‘anti-torque’ literally means ‘against the twist’ — which is exactly the job: to push back against the twisting force the main rotor creates on the helicopter body.
Why Pilots Care
Without them the helicopter would rotate uncontrollably in the opposite direction of the main rotor, making controlled flight impossible.
Grounding Statement
Pressing one pedal increases tail-rotor thrust in one direction while the other reduces it, allowing the pilot to turn the nose without the fuselage spinning.
Intuition Check
Do not think of these as airplane brake pedals. In a helicopter, anti-torque pedals mainly control where the nose points; they are not primarily for slowing the aircraft on the ground.
Example Sentence 1
While hovering into the wind, the pilot applied gentle left pressure on the anti-torque pedals to keep the nose aligned with the landing spot.
Example Sentence 2
In forward flight the pilot made small inputs on the anti-torque pedals to keep the heading steady on the assigned course.