Increasingly, drones are being used for various purposes. Among them, photography, land mapping, aerial surveillance, ore, oil and gas exploration, real estate market, construction, search and rescue, military applications, among many others. Most of the drones used are quadcopters, but models that operate with three propellers (tricopters) have some advantages over those with four. Tricopters are usually more efficient and, as a result, have greater autonomy. In addition, they have a lower initial construction cost, less probability of failure due to having fewer engines, and greater maneuverability. These advantages indicate great potential in their study. Therefore, this work aims to deepen the knowledge of these vehicles. Here, the physics of the tricopter is studied, developing a mathematical model for this type of vehicle, from which simulations of maneuvers are performed to validate the model and better understand its behavior, with discussion of how the control system acts to perform the maneuvers, attitude control and stabilization. Using the Matlab / Simulink tool, the simulation of the maneuvers was performed and, using the Solidworks tool, a simplified three-dimensional model was built considering its main geometric characteristics, used to determine mass properties, as the matrix of moments of inertia, for example. The main components of a tricopter are also analyzed: Chassis, engine, propellers, IMU (and its components), batteries and PID controller. With discussion of working principles, existing types and their advantages and disadvantages.