Autorotation in the context of "Short takeoff and landing"

A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that can take off and land on runways that are much shorter than the typical ones needed for conventional take-off and landing. STOL-capable aircraft are usually light aircraft (mostly propeller-driven utility aircraft, sporters or motor gliders) with a high lift-to-drag ratio and typically also a high aspect ratio, allowing them to achieve minimum takeoff speed (i.e. liftoff speed or V_LOF) much more quickly and thus requiring a shorter accelerating run before taking off (takeoff roll); and perform landing at a lower minimum steady flight speed (V_S0) and thus also a shorter decelerating run (rollout).

Gyrocopters, despite being rotary-wing aircraft, need a forward motion to drive air flow past autorotating rotor blades to generate lift and thus still mandate runways (albeit a very short one) for takeoff and landing. They are therefore also considered STOL aircraft, as they cannot perform vertical takeoff and landing like helicopters.

An autogyro (from Greek αὐτός and γύρος, "self-turning"), gyroplane or gyrocopter, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-driven, except for initial starting, but are made to rotate by action of the air when the rotorcraft is moving; and whose means of propulsion, consisting usually of conventional propellers, is independent of the rotor system." While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's unpowered rotor disc must have air flowing upward across it to make it rotate. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller.