Rotor disc tilt is created by a swashplate that controls the cyclic pitch of the main rotor. It is controlled by a cyclic-pitch lever that is placed in front of the pilot. When a cyclic-pitch lever is pointed in the given direction, it increases the angle of the rotor blades in one direction and reduces it in the opposite direction. Taking gyro precession into account, this means that in directions angled at 90 degrees from the directions with maximum and minimum cyclic pitch maximal and minimal lift is created as well as maximal and minimal rotor blades fly (up and down). The first one creates the momentum which tilts the helicopter, while the second tilts the rotor’s cone itself. Both of these factors create horizontal component of main rotor lift which allows a helicopter to move horizontally. The rotor cone tilt is possible because of the hinges that allow the blades to flap both horizontally and vertically, and rotate around their axes.

The main rotor lift is controlled by the collective pitch that affects the angle of all blades in all directions on the rotor disc. So it doesn't depend on the direction on the rotor disc. The final angle of each blade, in each direction, is equal to a sum of angles created by a collective and cyclic pitch. By increasing the collective pitch, you increase the main rotor lift. Collective pitch is used to control ascending/descending, or to compensate for the vertical component of the main rotor lift whilst a helicopter is titled and moving forward/backward or left/right. To control the collective pitch you should use collective pitch stick - on the left of the pilot’s seat; it moves vertically.

The main rotor has some issues. Whilst flying above the surface at lower altitudes (comparative to the rotor diameter) there is a ground effect that increases the main rotor lift. Whilst flying at low horizontal speed with high descending speed (3 m/s or more) the main rotor encounters a vortex ring effect that results into a thrust loss and uncontrollable fall. You should increase your horizontal speed to be able to pull out. And finally after the engine failure the main rotor may still be rotated by the airflow. Collective rotor pitch should be minimal in order to keep the main rotor speed high enough for control and landing.

The tail rotor is used to compensate reactive torque of the main rotor that tries to make a helicopter spin around in the direction opposite to that of the main rotor. The side effect of the control rotor is a side thrust, which tries to make a helicopter fly slightly sideways. This can be compensated by, for example, slightly angling the main rotor axis or in other ways. Tail rotor thrust depends on its blades pitch that is controlled by pedals.

The tail rotor (same as the main rotor) may encounter a vortex ring effect during hovering with high rotation speed when a helicopter spins around the main rotor axis (left or right) in the same direction as the tail rotor airflow. This leads to an uncontrollable helicopter rotation, and the pilot should reduce the collective pitch and land or to tilt the helicopter slightly forward and gain some speed (if you have enough altitude, of course)

Helicopter engines are usually turboshaft and connected to the transmission which applies the engines power to the main and tail rotors thus making them move. Helicopters with two-engine systems may use only one engine to power the rotors, when the other breaks down. In the case that all engines are broken, rotors may still rotate using the force of relative airflow which is used to perform emergency landings in an autorotation mode. All these modules or components can be damaged, which can, and will, affect helicopter flight performance.