What did Leonardo da Vinci’s aerial screw attempt to create?

Leonardo da Vinci’s aerial screw attempted to create vertical flight.

Drawn around 1489, the aerial screw resembles a large helical rotor supported by a circular frame. Leonardo suggested that rotating the screw could make it rise through the air, much as a screw moves through a material. The design is commonly viewed as an early conceptual ancestor of the helicopter.

It could not have flown as drawn because the proposed materials and human-powered mechanism could not generate enough lift. Modern helicopters use powered rotors with carefully shaped blades, while Leonardo’s design relied on a broad helical surface and was not a complete aircraft.

The aerial screw is therefore best understood as a theoretical machine rather than a functioning helicopter. It remains one of Leonardo’s most famous engineering sketches because it identified the central idea of lifting a craft vertically with a rotating device.