Identification of Longitudinal Aircraft Modes and Aerodynamic Parameters with Flight Trials

The present work deals with the investigation of longitudinal aircraft stability derivative coefficients using flight trials. A longitudinal model is predicted using semi-empirical models. The most important stability derivatives are identified with a time-domain approach, whereas the macroscopic dynamic characteristics, e.g. the short period mode, are also verified with an independent frequency-domain technique. The activity shows how the aerodynamic model evaluation can be also trickier for a conventional aft-tail ultra-light aircraft.