AbstractA computer model to study the response of an aircraft to disturbances of control elements is presented. The general nondimensional small disturbance equations of motion are obtained in the form of linearized first-order differential equations. The equations are written in vector form, and are denoted as the state equation. The Z- transform is used to obtain the recursion relation, which is the solution of the state equation. The numerical model is used to provide an illustration for airplane response to various simulated control faults during maneuvering or straight flight. It is concluded from the study that disturbances of the three control elements tend to activate several aircraft stability modes, some of which may be unstable. In addition, the fault configuration seems to have a clear effect on the aircraft response within the fault-time domain.