Leonardo da Vinci’s device using a pyramid-shaped linen canopy was a parachute.
In a manuscript note from about 1485, Leonardo described a pyramid-shaped tent made from linen, with a width and height of roughly 7.5 metres. He wrote that a person could jump from a great height and land safely with the structure. This is one of the earliest detailed parachute concepts known from European engineering history.
Leonardo did not document a successful test of the design. Its large canopy was intended to create air resistance and slow a falling person, not to provide powered flight. The proposal therefore belongs to the history of parachute design rather than aviation as a whole.
Modern experiments with replicas have examined whether the concept could work. Such tests differ in materials, construction, and safety conditions from the Renaissance proposal, so they are not proof that Leonardo personally demonstrated it.