STOL Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
STOL is an acronym for Short Take-Off and Landing, used in the aircraft industry to describe airplanes with very low runway requirements. Famous STOL aircraft include the Fieseler Fi 156, de Havilland Beaver, Pilatus PC-6, Piper Cub, PZL Wilga, and Westland Lysander.Runway length requirement is a function of the square of the minimum flying speed (stall speed), and most design effort is spent on reducing this number. For takeoff, large power/weight ratioss and low drag help the plane to accelerate for flight. The landing run is minimized by strong brakes and spoilerss (less common). Overall STOL performance is set by the length of runway needed to land or take off, whichever is longer.
Of equal importance to short ground run is the ability to clear obstacles, such as trees, on both take off and landing. For takeoff, large power/weight ratioss and low drag result in a high rate of climb required to clear obstacles. For landing high drag allows the airplane to descend steeply to the runway with out building excess speed resulting in a longer ground run. Drag is increased by use of flapss (devices on the wings) and slipss (causing the airplane to fly somewhat sideways).
Normally, a STOL plane will have a large wing for its weight. These wings often use aerodynamic devices like flapss, slats, and vortex generators. Typically, designing an airplane for excellent STOL performance reduces maximum speed, but does not reduce payload lifting ability.
Most STOL planes either land in the countryside or on normal airport runways. A STOLPORT is an airport designed with STOL operations in mind, normally having a short single runway. These are not common but can be found, for example, at London City Airport, London, England.
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