STOL - Definitions

Definitions

There is no universally accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of regulatory and military purposes. Some accepted definitions of STOL include:

short takeoff and landing: (DOD/NATO) The ability of an aircraft to clear a 50-foot (15 meters) obstacle within 1,500 feet (450 meters) of commencing takeoff or in landing, to stop within 1,500 feet (450 meters) after passing over a 50-foot (15 meters) obstacle. Also called STOL.

Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (JP 1-02)

"STOL (Short Take Off and Landing). STOL performance of an aircraft is the ability of aircraft to take off and clear a 50-foot obstruction in a distance of 1,500 feet from beginning the takeoff run. It must also be able to stop within 1,500 feet after crossing a 50-foot obstacle on landing."

Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms

"An aircraft that, at some weight within its approved operating weight, is capable of operating from a STOL runway in compliance with the applicable STOL characteristics and airworthiness, operations, noise, and pollution standards" and ""aircraft" means any machine capable of deriving support in the atmosphere"

Transport Canada and Arizona Department of Transportation

"A STOL aircraft is an aircraft with a certified performance capability to execute approaches along a glideslope of 6 degrees or steeper and to execute missed approaches at a climb gradient sufficient to clear a 15:1 missed approach surface at sea level... A STOL runway is one which is specifically designated and marked for STOL aircraft operations, and designed and maintained to specified standards."

US Federal Aviation Administration

"Heavier-than-air craft that cannot take off and land vertically, but can operate within areas substantially more confined than those normally required by aircraft of the same size. Derived from short takeoff and landing aircraft."

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms

"short takeoff and landing aircraft (STOL), heavier-than-air craft, capable of rising from and descending to the ground with only a short length of runway, but incapable of doing so vertically. The precise definition of an STOL aircraft has not been universally agreed upon. However, it has been tentatively defined as an aircraft that upon taking off needs only 1,000 ft (305 m) of runway to clear a 50-ft (15-m) obstacle at the end of that distance and upon landing can clear the same obstacle and then land within 1,000 ft."

Columbia Encyclopedia

"The STOL mode of flight is one during which an airplane taking off or landing is operated at climb-out and approach speeds lower than the conventionally accepted margins of airspeed above the power-off stalling speed of the airplane."

Lieutenant Colonel Walter P. Maiersperger, USAF (Ret)

Additionally some aircraft manufacturers market their products as STOL, without providing evidence that the aircraft meets any accepted definition.