Abstract: A tethered flight control system for a small unmanned aircraft. The tethered flight control system can have a mobile base, a tether arm, a tether spout, and a remote-controlled winch that can hold a tether line, which can be connected to a small unmanned aircraft. By controlling the tether line using the winch, the small unmanned aircraft can be prevented from flying out of range or out of control. The winch can have a high-speed motor configured to remove substantially all slack from the tether line while the small unmanned aircraft is in flight. The winch can be controlled from a hard-wired winch remote, which can take the form of a foot pedal device having one or more foot pedals. The tether line can be attached to the small unmanned aircraft through a tether attachment apparatus, which can have a travel bar, two or more rotor protectors, and a mounting section.