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Spoiled for lots of big images.

VTOL aircraft:


Non-VTOL aircraft:


They all share this flat, ridged surface for their landing gear. How do the ones incapable of hovering land without just crashing into the ground? I'm a big aircraft fan, so this is something that really bothers me. That said, I'm going to be converting proper landing gear onto all my non-VTOLs that aren't Tau or Eldar. At least I can imagine those landing on a force-cushion of some kind.

Special mag-fields?

Or big mag-locking mechanical arms.

Dont try and inject logic into things.

its 40k

just take a bunch of fridge magnets with long latinized words and throw em to get your answers

edit though its probably some anti grav generator like landspeeders

Maybe they are all VTOL craft but only some of them are purpose built to fight in the non-zooming around mode?

Grav-cushions.

Just about everything in the Imperium is VTOL... except the starships, but those aren't supposed to be in an atmosphere anyway. Or land. Ever.

Magnetism would only work on specially-made landing pads/strips, while grav-plating like a Land Speeder would be a massive waste. That technology is rare and little-understood, too much so to be wasting on every single piece of landing gear in the Imperium because wheels are too complicated for some silly reason.

Also, they're not all VTOL. Their engines are fixed and they have nothing resembling the nozzles and thrust vectoring of explicitly VTOL vehicles (as demonstrated above). They couldn't just throw grav-plates into the hull of every craft just so they could hover a little bit.

 Desubot wrote:
Dont try and inject logic into things.

its 40k

That is a huge fallacy that sucks a lot of enjoyment out of a lot of things.

 Psienesis wrote:
Grav-cushions.

Just about everything in the Imperium is VTOL... except the starships, but those aren't supposed to be in an atmosphere anyway. Or land. Ever.

This. Also, a lot of aircraft are supposed to sort of "dock" inside of larger Void ships, and aren't meant to remain in-atmosphere.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
Magnetism would only work on specially-made landing pads/strips, while grav-plating like a Land Speeder would be a massive waste. That technology is rare and little-understood, too much so to be wasting on every single piece of landing gear in the Imperium because wheels are too complicated for some silly reason.

Also, they're not all VTOL. Their engines are fixed and they have nothing resembling the nozzles and thrust vectoring of explicitly VTOL vehicles (as demonstrated above). They couldn't just throw grav-plates into the hull of every craft just so they could hover a little bit.

 Desubot wrote:
Dont try and inject logic into things.

its 40k

That is a huge fallacy that sucks a lot of enjoyment out of a lot of things.

You are talking about space wizards and knightly orders.

its a space fantasy not science fiction.

Otherwise a lot of big things like Titans and Hive worlds would collapse under its own weight. the flying bricks of the imperium wouldnt make it off world. and a few other things i remember was funny.

That's the mentality that allows Marneus Calgar to catch an Avatar's sword in his hand - the same sword that was stated to cleave Terminators in two "as if their armour wasn't even there". It's stupid, and stupid stuff shouldn't just be ignored.

I think the answer is "GW didn't think of that", so really this means that these vehicles simply cannot land. How is that cool?

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
That's the mentality that allows Marneus Calgar to catch an Avatar's sword in his hand - the same sword that was stated to cleave Terminators in two "as if their armour wasn't even there". It's stupid, and stupid stuff shouldn't just be ignored.

I think the answer is "GW didn't think of that", so really this means that these vehicles simply cannot land. How is that cool?

Calgars rock hard fist nipples are powered. probably the same kinda power that they use in storm shields.

Or it was the iron halo if he has one.

Keep in mind the Xiphon is Great Crusade era, ie, the same age as the Land Speeder.

Giving it gravplates makes perfect sense - it allows for great versatility thanks to secondary low-altitude propulsion.

Maybe the skids are frictionless. Maybe GW just don't like wheels. Alternatively, maybe they were just saving time by reusing a common part in all their aircraft models.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
That's the mentality that allows Marneus Calgar to catch an Avatar's sword in his hand - the same sword that was stated to cleave Terminators in two "as if their armour wasn't even there". It's stupid, and stupid stuff shouldn't just be ignored.

I think the answer is "GW didn't think of that", so really this means that these vehicles simply cannot land. How is that cool?

It's because Calgar is a pimp, and thus keeps his Pimp-hand strong. Other, lesser Marines with Terminator Honors are not pimps, and thus their Pimp-hand was found wanting.

The same way every Star Wars ship lands. Anti-grav technology.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
Magnetism would only work on specially-made landing pads/strips, while grav-plating like a Land Speeder would be a massive waste. That technology is rare and little-understood, too much so to be wasting on every single piece of landing gear in the Imperium because wheels are too complicated for some silly reason.

Also, they're not all VTOL. Their engines are fixed and they have nothing resembling the nozzles and thrust vectoring of explicitly VTOL vehicles (as demonstrated above). They couldn't just throw grav-plates into the hull of every craft just so they could hover a little bit.

 Desubot wrote:
Dont try and inject logic into things.

its 40k

That is a huge fallacy that sucks a lot of enjoyment out of a lot of things.

It's possible that the anti-grav plates for the Land Speeder are unique and the anti-grav plates used in aircraft are much less complex and thus easier to make. I mean, Anti-grav is the only way any Imperial Aircraft is able to fly right.

The Land Speeder's "anti-grav" is actually dependent on a planet's magnetic field. They skim on the planet's magnetic field to adjust their altitude. I imagine other stuff uses actual anti-grav.

They dock with void ships and don't land

On Calgars giant pimp hands i thought they were a demonic artifact anyway and as such don't even slightly obey logic

Wings moving up/down and retractable landing gear are the only rational answers. GW doesn't design things for practicality in any regard.

The Dark Angel flier actually is a Vectored Thrust plane - in ones of its configurations. For some reason, the Nephilim covers the downthrusters with ammunition storage.

The Xyphon is, as previously stated, designed to be launched via catapult from a starship and return to it, before being reloaded into the catapult by crane.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
The Dark Angel flier actually is a Vectored Thrust plane - in ones of its configurations. For some reason, the Nephilim covers the downthrusters with ammunition storage.

That's actually what made me think to ask. I've started working (concept stage, still) on heavily converting a Nephilim kit into a winged Storm Talon for a friend, and I didn't realise the Nephilim wasn't VTOL like the Dark Talon, despite being on the same chassis (a chassis which is not at all compatible with its supposed role of "Interceptor", suited far better for an attack helicopter-style role, but that's okay - we can attribute that to error on the Dark Angel's part). I've been thinking about landing gear for a long time, but this reminded me of it and I wondered if there was actually a fluff explanation or if it was just an oversight by the designers.

Yes, the Xiphon could possess such technology due to being a more advanced craft. If not, it would be extremely limiting of its atmospheric capabilities (which it is stated to have). That said, it wouldn't be hard to just give it wheels as well or have atmospheric and void patterns rather than trying to make it mix-role.

Conclusion: no, there is no in-universe explanation, it's just GW being themselves.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:
Magnetism would only work on specially-made landing pads/strips, while grav-plating like a Land Speeder would be a massive waste. That technology is rare and little-understood, too much so to be wasting on every single piece of landing gear in the Imperium because wheels are too complicated for some silly reason.

Also, they're not all VTOL. Their engines are fixed and they have nothing resembling the nozzles and thrust vectoring of explicitly VTOL vehicles (as demonstrated above). They couldn't just throw grav-plates into the hull of every craft just so they could hover a little bit.

 Desubot wrote:
Dont try and inject logic into things.

its 40k

That is a huge fallacy that sucks a lot of enjoyment out of a lot of things.

Imperial tech comes from the STC that originate from the Dark Age of Technology. DAoT guys were more than advanced enough to have some kind of landspeeder-like grav-plating on every piece of landing gear. So if the STC for landing gear includes grav-plating, all Imperial landing gear will have grav plating regardless of whether the tech itself is still understood or not. Half of the Imperium's technology is no longer understood.

Oh yeah, and if the STC for landing gear has anti-grav plating, that means that any kind of landing gear with wheels does not adhere to the STC and therefore is vile heresy! No matter how more effective or simple it would be, religion trumps everything in the Imperium.

 Frozen Ocean wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
The Dark Angel flier actually is a Vectored Thrust plane - in ones of its configurations. For some reason, the Nephilim covers the downthrusters with ammunition storage.

That's actually what made me think to ask. I've started working (concept stage, still) on heavily converting a Nephilim kit into a winged Storm Talon for a friend, and I didn't realise the Nephilim wasn't VTOL like the Dark Talon, despite being on the same chassis (a chassis which is not at all compatible with its supposed role of "Interceptor", suited far better for an attack helicopter-style role, but that's okay - we can attribute that to error on the Dark Angel's part). I've been thinking about landing gear for a long time, but this reminded me of it and I wondered if there was actually a fluff explanation or if it was just an oversight by the designers.

Yes, the Xiphon could possess such technology due to being a more advanced craft. If not, it would be extremely limiting of its atmospheric capabilities (which it is stated to have). That said, it wouldn't be hard to just give it wheels as well or have atmospheric and void patterns rather than trying to make it mix-role.

Conclusion: no, there is no in-universe explanation, it's just GW being themselves.

And Imperials being ugh. I've said for a long time that the Valkyrie would be a much better design if it had runners rather than skids - but then, we know that VTOL is rubbish compared to V/STOVL, something that is apparently beyond the designers at GW (along with the concept that yes, people can build model with aerofoils).

How do they land?.....Badly usually ! off the edge of the shelf!

It's also possible that Xiphon was never intended to be operated from planet-side airbases, only from the orbit. This would explain the lack of proper road wheels.

Also, It's possible that it uses anti-grav plates for vertical takeoff.

They are the Imperium they land anyway they want too, who needs landing computers when you have the Emperors blessing!!

The true answer?

"Like bricks."

When you have plasma-forged adamantine armor and slav- er, I mean, Chapter Serfs to repaint, you can just belly-flop the plane and bounce until you come to a complete stop.

That's a very good image.

 Furyou Miko wrote:


And Imperials being ugh. I've said for a long time that the Valkyrie would be a much better design if it had runners rather than skids - but then, we know that VTOL is rubbish compared to V/STOVL, something that is apparently beyond the designers at GW (along with the concept that yes, people can build model with aerofoils).

Well, honestly, the Land Raider is a WWI mark I tank made bigger, which is a much more heinous decision when it comes to making your vehicles viable in "real-world" scenarios. The fact that GW's model designers go for style over practicality in almost every situation isn't exactly surprising, nor should it be. WH40K isn't hard sci-fi, after all; it's science fantasy that started out as a parody of various popular nerd things and mutated into a setting that (generally) takes itself seriously.

Honestly, it seems like the reason the vehicles/weapons/everything in 40K are so silly is because 1) the designers aren't military engineers and it shows, but more importantly 2) the Imperium would be so much less fun and unique if it wasn't a bastard hybrid of every grimdark trope imaginable, mixed with a little gothic architecture and religious madness.

Maybe like this.

Given the lack of any information beyond images I would have to say vertically: