Leonardo da Vinci’s aerial screw used a large rotating screw to explore the idea of vertical flight.
Leonardo sketched the design in the 1480s in the Codex Atlanticus. The machine had a helical surface made from linen stretched over a reed framework. He reasoned that rotating the screw could push against the air and lift the structure upward, much as a screw moves through a solid material.
The aerial screw is frequently described as a helicopter ancestor, but it was not a practical helicopter. The drawing does not provide a complete modern propulsion system, and the machine would have been too heavy for the available materials and human power. Later replicas have demonstrated the concept’s visual resemblance to a rotorcraft, not its historical ability to fly.
Leonardo’s study was important because it treated air as a medium that could support engineered motion. His other flight studies focused on flapping wings and gliding rather than rotary lift.