Radio-controlled aircraft

![RAE Larynx on cordite fired catapult of destroyer HMS Stronghold, July 1927. The man on the box is Dr George Gardner, later Director of the RAE[1]](/uploads/202502/06/Larynx0314.png)


A radio-controlled aircraft (often called RC aircraft or RC plane) is a small flying machine that is controlled remotely by an operator on the ground using a hand-held radio transmitter. The transmitter communicates with a receiver within the craft that sends signals to servomechanisms (servos) which move the control surfaces based on the position of joysticks on the transmitter. The control surfaces, in turn, affect the orientation of the plane.