Comparison of STOL Design Criteria for Commercial and Military Transport Aircraft

The characteristics of STOL transport aircraft designed for military missions resemble those developed for commercial air transport. A military aircraft with approximately 30,000-lb payload capacity correlates reasonably well with 120-150 passenger commercial aircraft. When reasonable margins of safety are applied to takeoff and landing criteria, the military transport designed for 2000-ft landing and takeoff distances could probably be certified at about the same landing and takeoff distances for civil use. However, many STOL military design details are not defined well enough to assure that similar commercial aircraft would be economical in airline use. Conversely, the criteria for acceptable levels of noise for commercial STOL aircraft might result in a less than optimum aircraft for military service.