Leonardo da Vinci designed a helicopter-like aircraft with a helical rotor above the cabin.
His design, usually called Leonardo’s aerial screw, appears in a drawing from about 1489. Leonardo proposed that a linen-covered, reed-framed helical surface could rotate and lift the machine, much like a screw moving through a solid material.
The drawing is not a working helicopter, and Leonardo did not build a successful powered prototype. The design also lacked a practical engine and a clearly workable method for producing continuous rotation. Modern helicopters use rotating blades, aerodynamic lift, engines, and flight controls that differ substantially from Leonardo’s concept.
The aerial screw is often described as an early helicopter idea rather than the first helicopter. The first sustained, controlled helicopter flights came more than four centuries later, after lightweight engines and suitable rotor systems became available.