Leonardo da Vinci designed an ornithopter, a flight machine intended to fly by flapping wings.
The word ornithopter means a machine that flies through the movement of wings, echoing the way birds and bats generate lift. Leonardo’s studies of bird anatomy, wing structure and air currents informed several proposed machines. His sketches often place a pilot inside a frame, using levers, pedals or other mechanisms to move large wings.
Leonardo understood that human muscles alone would probably not provide enough power for a heavy machine of this size. Some drawings therefore explore gliding, mechanical assistance or different wing arrangements rather than one finalized aircraft. None of his ornithopter designs is known to have flown.
An ornithopter is distinct from an aerial screw, which seeks vertical lift through rotation, and from a parachute, which slows a descent. Leonardo’s flying studies belong to a broad program of observation and experimentation rather than a single completed invention.