VTOL aircraft with movable undercarriage

A vertical take-off and landing aircraft, comprising:

• a center of gravity, an elongated fuselage, an undercarriage means, a tail, a nose, and a touchdown area at said tail, said touchdown area being located, when the aircraft lands tail-first in a generally vertical attitude relative to a generally horizontal landing surface, at a position offset from a line extending along the length of the fuselage through the center of gravity of the aircraft, said aircraft toppling under the action of gravity, after the touchdown area contacts the landing surface, to bring the undercarriage means into contact with the landing surface, at a relatively early stage of toppling, said undercarriage means being movable with respect to the fuselage so that as the aircraft topples further, a contact area between the landing surface and the undercarriage means moves toward the nose of the aircraft, thereby to attain a stable landed position.