Definition
A flight emergency in which the pilot can no longer control the airplane's pitch attitude through normal elevator inputs, typically caused by a jammed control, disconnected linkage, broken cable, or structural failure of the elevator itself. With the elevator inoperative, pitch must be managed through alternative means such as power changes, trim, and flap configuration to maintain a controllable flightpath and accomplish a survivable landing.
Plain English
Something has gone wrong with the part of the airplane that points the nose up and down, and pulling or pushing on the yoke no longer changes pitch the way it should. The pilot has to fly and land using power, trim, and flaps to control whether the nose climbs or descends.
Context Anchor
Seen in emergency training and emergency procedures when discussing how to keep control of the airplane if normal nose-up and nose-down control is partly or fully lost.
Derivation
Elevator comes from a word meaning “to raise.” In aviation, the elevator is named for its job: it helps raise or lower the airplane’s nose by changing the airplane’s pitch.
Why Pilots Care
Failure to recognize and recover from this condition can lead to uncontrolled flight or structural damage.
Grounding Statement
The key idea is simple: the pilot is trying to control the nose, but the normal nose-control surface is not doing what it should.
Intuition Check
Do not read “elevator” as a lift in a building. Here, elevator means the movable control surface on the tail that helps raise or lower the airplane’s nose. Do not assume “loss” always means total failure. It can mean partial, limited, jammed, or abnormal elevator response.
Example Sentence 1
After the elevator cable failed in flight, the pilot recognized the loss of elevator control and used throttle and trim to manage pitch all the way to a shallow landing.
Example Sentence 2
The instructor simulated loss of elevator control during a high-speed descent so the student could practice recovery using alternate methods.