A
vertical take-off and landing (
VTOL)
aircraft is one that can hover,
take off, and land vertically. This classification includes
fixed-wing aircraft as well as
helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as
cyclogyros/cyclocopters and
tiltrotors. Some VTOL aircraft can operate in other modes as well, such as
CTOL (conventional take-off and landing),
STOL (short take-off and landing), and/or
STOVL (short take-off and vertical landing). Others, such as some helicopters, can only operate by VTOL, due to the aircraft lacking
landing gear that can handle horizontal motion. VTOL is a subset of
V/STOL (vertical and/or short take-off and landing).