Leonardo da Vinci’s ornithopter was a proposed flying machine with wings intended to imitate a bird’s flight.
Leonardo studied birds closely and filled notebooks with observations about wing movement, balance, feathers, and airflow. His ornithopter concepts used flapping wings rather than the fixed wings of a glider. Some drawings show a human operator powering the wings through pedals, levers, or other mechanical arrangements.
No evidence shows that Leonardo’s human-powered ornithopters achieved sustained flight. Human muscle power is generally insufficient for the wing area and lift required by such a machine, especially with Renaissance materials and mechanisms.
The ornithopter is different from Leonardo’s aerial screw, which proposed vertical lift through a rotating helical surface. It is also different from a parachute, which descends by producing drag rather than powered lift.