Vertical Take-Off Horizontal Landing describes planes that can lift off vertically but land in the traditional manner. While many VTOL aircraft can operate in this fashion, some planes must land normally after taking off vertically due to a vertical landing either being impossible (requiring a structure to orient it vertically for take off) or impractical (compexities and power requirements in decending on engine power with no horizontal velocity).

Examples include the German rocket plane, Heinkel P.1077 , and Space Shuttle.