In this paper a comparative analysis of a linear and nonlinear control laws to stabilize a VTOL aircraft is presented. A linear control law using LQR method is obtained and compared with respect to three nonlinear control strategies obtained using the well-known backstepping technique and the saturation functions. The performance of the controllers is compared by simulation but also in real-time experiences. The robustness of the control algorithms with respect to aggressive perturbations is illustrated with real-time experiments.