Leonardo da Vinci’s vertical-flight design is commonly called the aerial screw.
Leonardo sketched the machine around 1489. Its large helical structure was intended to be turned by people using cranks, forcing air downward and, in theory, lifting the frame upward. The design was not built and tested successfully in Leonardo’s lifetime.
The aerial screw is often described as a helicopter ancestor, but it was not a working helicopter. Modern helicopters use powered rotors that generate lift through aerodynamic blades; Leonardo’s drawing reflects Renaissance mechanical thinking and does not provide a proven solution for sustained flight.
The idea is sometimes confused with Leonardo’s ornithopter studies, which imagined flight through flapping wings. The aerial screw instead uses rotary motion and is one of the most recognizable examples of Leonardo’s machine sketches.