A STOL aircraft comprising: a fuselage having a port and a starboard side; a pair of opposing fixed wings (120, 120') being at least one fixed wing coupled to said fuselage and extending laterally from each of said port and said starboard side; one or more propellers (130, 130') coupled to at least one of said wings or said fuselage to provide axially directed thrust to propel said aircraft forwardly; one or more motors (135, 135') to drive said propellers; at least one power source coupled to said one or more motors to supply energy to said one or more motors; and three or more retractable and deployable landing gear modules (150, 155) coupled to one or more of said fuselage and said wings and operative to rotate during landing to absorb vertical sink energy of said aircraft and to reduce shock to aircraft occupants, said landing gear modules including a front and a rear landing gear module, the front and rear landing gear modules being operatively coupled to said fuselage, each of said front and rear landing gear modules including at least one rotatable landing gear strut (151, 151', 156) with a wheel (161, 161', 162) disposed on its distal end, the wheel of the rear landing gear being powered; a control system for controlling said landing gear motors to deploy and retract said front and rear landing gear struts; landing gear motors for driving said front and said rear landing gear struts independently; and sensors configured to measure aircraft flight condition and position data, including airspeed, groundspeed, and position in relation to a runway and provide measurements to the control system; wherein the aircraft center of gravity is disposed between said front and said rear landing gear module, and the front landing gear module being configured to rotate towards the ground during a takeoff run pushing a nose of the aircraft upward, and wherein said control system is configured to rotate one or more of said landing gear struts in response to aircraft flight condition and position data. a fuselage having a port and a starboard side; a pair of opposing fixed wings (120, 120') being at least one fixed wing coupled to said fuselage and extending laterally from each of said port and said starboard side; one or more propellers (130, 130') coupled to at least one of said wings or said fuselage to provide axially directed thrust to propel said aircraft forwardly; one or more motors (135, 135') to drive said propellers; at least one power source coupled to said one or more motors to supply energy to said one or more motors; and three or more retractable and deployable landing gear modules (150, 155) coupled to one or more of said fuselage and said wings and operative to rotate during landing to absorb vertical sink energy of said aircraft and to reduce shock to aircraft occupants, said landing gear modules including a front and a rear landing gear module, the front and rear landing gear modules being operatively coupled to said fuselage, each of said front and rear landing gear modules including at least one rotatable landing gear strut (151, 151', 156) with a wheel (161, 161', 162) disposed on its distal end, the wheel of the rear landing gear being powered; a control system for controlling said landing gear motors to deploy and retract said front and rear landing gear struts; landing gear motors for driving said front and said rear landing gear struts independently; and sensors configured to measure aircraft flight condition and position data, including airspeed, groundspeed, and position in relation to a runway and provide measurements to the control system; wherein the aircraft center of gravity is disposed between said front and said rear landing gear module, and the front landing gear module being configured to rotate towards the ground during a takeoff run pushing a nose of the aircraft upward, and wherein said control system is configured to rotate one or more of said landing gear struts in response to aircraft flight condition and position data.