Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Practice Exam

Which motion occurs from turning, causing weight to shift from side to side?

1. Pitch

2. Roll

3. Yaw

4. Surge

The correct answer is: Roll

The motion described—turning and causing weight to shift from side to side—is known as roll. In aviation and marine contexts, roll refers specifically to the tilting of an aircraft or vessel along its longitudinal axis. When an aircraft rolls, one wing moves up while the other moves down, which indeed results in a shift of weight from one side to the other. In contrast, pitch involves the up or down movement of the nose of an aircraft, which affects altitude but not side-to-side weight distribution. Yaw is the horizontal rotation around the vertical axis, allowing an aircraft or a ship to turn left or right without affecting the roll. Surge refers to the forward and backward motion along the longitudinal axis and does not relate to side-to-side weight shifts. Thus, understanding the distinctions between these terms clarifies why roll is the correct answer for this scenario.