An aircraft capable of thrust-borne flight can be automatically retrieved, serviced, and launched. In one embodiment, for retrieval, the aircraft drops a tether and pulls the tether at low relative speed into contact with a horizontal guide. The tether is pulled across the guide until the guide is captured b an end effector. The tether length is adjusted as necessary, and the aircraft swings on the guide to hang in an inverted position. Translation of the tether along the guide then brings the aircraft to a docking carriage, in which the aircraft parks for servicing. For launch, the carriage is swung upright, the end effector is released from the guide, and the aircraft thrusts into free flight. A full ground-handling cycle can thus be accomplished automatically with a simple, economical apparatus. It can be used with low risk of damage and requires moderate accuracy in manual or automatic flight control.