STOL

STOL is an acronym for Short Take-Off and Landing, used in the aircraft industry to describe airplanes with excellent short-field performance. Famous STOL aircraft include the Fieseler Fi 156, de Havilland Beaver, PZL Wilga and Westland Lysander. A STOLPORT is an airport designed with STOL operations in mind, normally having a short single runway. The vertiport could gain support in the emerging era of tilt-rotors, but it may find the low environmental "footprint" traditionally achieved by STOLPORTs hard to match.

STOL performance is a direct function of inertia. Short takeoff and landing inertia is governed by slow flight performance, the flying weight of the aircraft, and the thrust available. The lighter an aircraft is, the less difficult it will be to slow down, but when it gets right down to it the maximum amount of lift that can be generated to support the weight of the aircraft at the slowest possible speed is the goal.

The generation of lift is a function of the wing area and the airfoil section lifting characteristics as presented to a component of airspeed. The minimum airspeed required to maintain flight is dependent upon how much weight must be lifted by the wing. If Short Takeoff Or Landing performance is the only criteria, then low weight, low drag, high power, and high lift are the goals.

STOL

See also