Leonardo da Vinci’s pyramid-canopy flight device is commonly called a parachute.
Leonardo sketched the design around 1485 in the Codex Atlanticus. It consists of a large linen canopy stretched over a pyramid-shaped wooden frame. The canopy was intended to catch air and slow a falling person, applying the same basic principle used by later parachutes.
Leonardo did not build a full-size, documented working version, and his drawing was a theoretical design rather than a tested aircraft. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nicholas constructed a replica and successfully tested it, although he used a modern parachute for the final landing because the wooden structure was considered difficult to control.
The design is sometimes described as the first parachute concept, but it was not the first modern parachute. Later parachutes used flexible fabric canopies without a rigid pyramid frame, making them lighter and more practical.