A method for operating an aircraft is performed by a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal displays an aircraft operation interface on a touchscreen of the mobile terminal and monitors a touch control operation applied on the aircraft operation interface. After determining that the touch control operation is detected, the mobile terminal acquires sensor data from one or more sensors of the mobile terminal and obtains an aircraft operation command according to the sensor data. Finally, the mobile terminal sends the aircraft operation command to the aircraft that is wirelessly connected to the mobile terminal. The aircraft then performs a predefined operation according to the operation command.