A Swiss man has shown that a parachute designed more than 500 years ago by Leonardo da Vinci works.
The 36-year-old parachutist made a successful 650-meter drop late last month. The parachute he used was made based on designs from a text by Leonardo.
¡§A perfect jump,¡¨ Olivier Vietti-Teppa said.
Vietti-Teppa is the first person to have made it safely to the ground with the Leonardo model. He jumped from a helicopter and the parachute opened at 600m.
The parachute was made using modern fabric. It consists of four equilateral triangles, 7m on each side. The base of the pyramid is a square of mosquito net, which enables the parachute to open.
One drawback is that it¡¦s impossible to steer the Leonardo parachute. Vietti-Teppa said that ¡§you come down at the whim of the wind.¡¨
To test the parachute, Vietti-Teppa used a dummy launched from a remote-controlled model helicopter.