A process for landing a tailless aircraft having a nose, wings that produce lift, a nose landing gear with a shock strut, and main landing gear, comprises the steps of allowing the nose landing gear shock strut to compress after touchdown to a point where the nose of the aircraft has lowered sufficiently to reduce the lift of the wings. The process further includes the step of controlling the rate of rebound of the nose landing gear shock strut such that the nose of the aircraft remains lowered in order to prevent the aircraft from becoming airborne after touchdown.