Abstract: The present steering mechanism, especially for an aircraft includes a manly operable steering member and an automatic steering system. A difference signal formed from a pilot input and trim signal and from a gyro feedback signal is supplied to a force control and damping circuit twice, once directly and once through an authority limit circuit. The output of the authority limit circuit is also supplied to the motors forming part of the automatic steering system. The force control and damping circuit also receives further input signal or signals representing steering information. The output of the force control and damping circuit is connected to the feel unit of the steering system, whereby an immediate manual control by the pilot is effective, however limited against an excessive control or so-called manual over control.