Flight test determination of neutral and maneuver points of aircraft

Results of flight tests conducted on a turboprop aircraft to determine the neutral and maneuver points of the aircraft are presented. Both classical test procedures and a new flight test and analysis method, based on parameter estimation techniques are used to determine the neutral point. Flight test results reveal that the new flight test/analysis procedure yields more accurate results compared to classical methods especially when the test center of gravity positions are close to the neutral point. This is because in the new method the neutral and maneuver points of the aircraft are related to the key short period stability parameter and short period natural frequency respectively which vary consistently with aircraft center of gravity.