Definition
A flight director display mode that presents pitch, roll, and collective (or thrust) guidance simultaneously on the attitude indicator, typically using three separate command bars or cues. The pilot flies the aircraft to satisfy all three cues at once, which results in the aircraft tracking the commanded flight path, lateral course, and vertical speed or power setting.
Plain English
A flight director setup that shows three pieces of guidance at the same time — one for pitch, one for roll, and one for power or vertical control. The pilot keeps all three lined up, and the aircraft flies the path the autopilot system is commanding.
Context Anchor
Seen in helicopter AFCS and flight director discussions, especially when describing how many guidance commands the system can display or follow.
Derivation
‘Cue’ comes from the Latin ‘quando’ (‘when’), later shortened in stage directions to mean a signal prompting action. In a flight director, each ‘cue’ is a visual signal telling the pilot what control input to make. ‘Three cue’ simply means three of these signals are presented together.
Why Pilots Care
Provides integrated speed guidance that reduces pilot workload and improves precision on coupled approaches.
Intuition Check
Do not read cue here as a casual hint. In this context, a cue is a specific flight director command the pilot or flight control system is meant to follow.
Example Sentence 1
With the flight director in three-cue mode, the pilot flew the ILS by keeping the pitch, roll, and collective cues centered throughout the approach.
Example Sentence 2
With three-cue active the thrust cue helped maintain stable airspeed while following the glideslope.