Leonardo da Vinci sketched a rotating-wing aircraft concept commonly called a helicopter, known as his aerial screw.
The design consisted of a large helical sail or screw mounted around a central mast. Leonardo proposed that rapid rotation would make the device rise by “screwing” through the air, much as a screw moves through a material. His drawing dates from about 1489 and is preserved in the Manuscript B of the Institut de France.
The aerial screw was not a helicopter in the modern engineering sense. It had no engine, rotor-control system, or practical method for producing enough sustained lift. Modern helicopters use powered rotors whose blades generate aerodynamic lift, while Leonardo’s concept relied on a rigid spiral surface and human or mechanical power that was not realistically available.
The design nevertheless shows Leonardo’s interest in translating screw motion into flight. It is distinct from his parachute and flapping-wing ornithopter studies. Calling it a helicopter is a modern classification, while “aerial screw” is the historical name most closely tied to the drawing.