Leonardo da Vinci sketched a glider with rigid wings and a pilot lying face down.
Leonardo studied several machines intended to imitate or exploit bird flight. Among them was a glider concept in which the pilot would lie on a platform and control wing surfaces. Unlike a powered airplane, the machine depended on an elevated launch and the movement of air rather than an engine.
The design belongs to Leonardo’s late-fifteenth-century investigations into flight. His notes examined wing shapes, balance, airflow, and the anatomy of birds. These studies helped him distinguish between machines that could glide and machines that would need a continuous source of lift or power.
The glider should not be confused with Leonardo’s ornithopter proposals, which used flapping wings, or his aerial screw, which is often compared with a helicopter. None of these aircraft designs was flight-tested by Leonardo.