What Leonardo da Vinci machine was a wing-flapping flying device inspired by the anatomy of birds?

Leonardo da Vinci’s ornithopter was a wing-flapping flying device inspired by the anatomy of birds.

Leonardo studied birds, bats, and the movement of air while developing several concepts for human flight. His ornithopter designs used large wings that a person might operate through pedals, levers, or other mechanical linkages. The central idea was to imitate the flapping motion of a bird rather than rely on a fixed wing.

Leonardo’s machines were never proven to fly with a human pilot. Human muscles cannot produce the same power-to-weight performance as a bird’s flight muscles, and the proposed mechanisms were too heavy and inefficient for practical flight.

An ornithopter is a broad engineering term for any aircraft that flies by flapping wings. Leonardo also explored a helical aerial screw and parachute, but those are separate designs and should not be treated as versions of the ornithopter.