On Flight
The Dream of Human Aviation
The great bird will take its first flight from the back of Monte Ceceri, filling the universe with wonder and filling all writings with its fame, and eternal glory to the nest where it was born.
— Leonardo da Vinci, Codex on the Flight of Birds
Overview
Flight was Leonardo's great obsession — the project that united his studies of anatomy, mechanics, air resistance, and the movement of birds into a single audacious goal: building a machine that would allow a human being to fly.
He approached the problem from every angle. He studied the wing structure of birds and bats. He analyzed how different birds soar, glide, turn, and land. He designed four distinct types of flying machines: the parachute (a passive descent device), the aerial screw (a precursor to the helicopter), the ornithopter (a wing-flapping machine powered by human muscles), and a fixed-wing glider that anticipates the modern airplane.
The dedicated Codex on the Flight of Birds (c. 1505) represents his most mature thinking on the subject — a shift from human-powered flight to understanding and exploiting air currents, wind patterns, and the principles of soaring.
The Parachute
c. 1485 — The first safe descent device
The Aerial Screw
c. 1489 — A spinning device to compress air
The Ornithopter
c. 1490–1495 — Mechanical wings for a human pilot
The Glider
c. 1505 — Fixed wings and the study of soaring
Related Subjects
Related Topics
- The Flying Machine — Leonardo's own passages
- Movement & Weight
- Anatomy
- The Nature of Water — Fluid dynamics
Source References
- Codex on the Flight of Birds
- MS. B — Early mechanical designs