Plain English Meaning

These are the instruments you look at to see the inputs you're giving the airplane — how much you're pitching, banking, and how much power you're using. They show your immediate adjustments, not the resulting performance.

Full Definition

The cockpit instruments that display immediate attitude and power changes the pilot is making with the flight controls and throttle. In an analog cockpit, the control instruments are the attitude indicator (showing pitch and bank) and the power indicator (manifold pressure gauge for piston engines, or tachometer/EPR/N1 depending on the powerplant). They show what the airplane is being told to do now, not what it is actually achieving time.