From General aviation aircraft design: applied methods and procedures.

By Gudmundsson, Snorri.

11.2.6 The Stick-fixed and Stick-free Neutral Points

As the CG of an aircraft is moved from a far forward to a far aft position (e.g. by moving useful load
around), its longitudinal stability derivative, Cmα, is modified greatly, from a large negative number
to a large positive number (relatively speaking). This is reflected in Figure 11-3, which shows Cm(α)
with both a positive and negative slope. As has already been discussed, the positive slope means the
vehicle is statically unstable. By law, GA aircraft must be stable. For this reason, it is vital to be able
to determine the CG location at which the slope becomes zero. This important point is called the
neutral point.

There are two types of neutral points: stick-fixed and stick-free. The former refers to the stability
with the elevator fixed in its neutral position (0° deflection angle), while the latter refers to the
elevator being free to move. This distinction is of considerable importance because at a given AOA
(assuming α > 0), a conventional elevator tends to float trailing edge up (as if to “help” the airplane
getting to an even larger AOA). Therefore, the airplane is less stable than if the elevator is fixed. It
should be evident that for typical aircraft, the stick-free neutral point should be expected to be
farther forward than the stick-fixed one.

An important note should be made here regarding the stick-free neutral point. It is indeed possible
for it to be aft of the stick-fixed neutral point. This depends on the magnitude of hinge moments due
to deflection and AOA on the HT. However, during the conceptual design phase, a forward-lying
stick-free neutral point is more critical as it narrows the CG envelope for conventional aircraft. And
therein lies the problem with its determination; it depends on the elevator hinge moment. This, in
turn, depends on the geometry of the horizontal tail, the size of the elevator, hinge line location,
airfoil, the presence and geometry of a control horn, deflection of a trim tab, and other factors (see
Section 23.2.1, Introduction to control surface hinge moments). Such details are simply not known
during the conceptual design phase and this calls for some assumptions to be made to allow the HT
to be sized.

On the other hand, the stick-fixed neutral point is less hard to determine, although it is by no means
simple. The following method allows the first stab at the stick-fixed neutral point to be made. Then,
the stick-free neutral point may be assumed to lie approximately 5% MGC ahead of the stick-fixed,
allowing a preliminary aft CG limit to be established. This will have to be revisited and estimated
more accurately before the first flight of the prototype, when the geometry of the HT is known in
detail. For more information on the generation of the CG-envelope refer to Section 6.6.12, Creating
the CG envelope. The stick-fixed neutral point can be determined using the following expression,
where the physical characteristics refer to those in Figure 11-11:

(11-26)
FIGURE 11-11 Wing-HT system used to derive Equation (11-26).

where

AR = wing aspect ratio

Don’t think I can use this one. Doesn’t look great, from the lecture notes.