Leonardo da Vinci designed an aerial screw as a mechanical device intended to lift a human with a screw-shaped rotor.
The aerial screw is one of Leonardo’s most recognizable aviation concepts. Its broad spiral surface resembles a helical screw, and the drawing suggests that rotating this surface could push against the air and raise the machine. The idea reflects Leonardo’s effort to reason about air as a physical medium rather than treating flight as a purely mythical subject.
The design could not fly as drawn because Renaissance materials and power sources were insufficient. It is also important not to confuse the aerial screw with Leonardo’s ornithopter: the ornithopter uses flapping wings, while the aerial screw uses a rotating helical surface. Both were speculative studies rather than operational aircraft.