Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute as a cone-shaped flying device. His drawing appears in the Codex Atlanticus, a large collection of his technical notes and sketches.
The design used a pyramidal, or pyramid-like, linen canopy supported by a wooden framework. Leonardo wrote that a person could jump from a great height with such a structure without injury, assuming the canopy was sufficiently wide and deep. His idea was centuries ahead of practical parachuting.
Leonardo did not build and test the parachute. Modern parachutes use flexible fabric canopies, suspension lines, and harnesses rather than his rigid frame. In 2000, British skydiver Adrian Nichols tested a modern reconstruction based on Leonardo’s drawing; it descended successfully, although he used a reserve parachute for safety.
The sketch is often called the first recorded parachute design, but it was a theoretical invention rather than a proven aircraft. It also differs from Leonardo’s separate studies of gliding and flapping-wing flight.