Da Vinci's Parachute - Field Tested 523 Years Later!

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/04/da-vincis-parac.html

The parachute that Renaissance-genius Leonardo Da Vinci drew is built and tested... after 523 years Parachutes have come a long way in the last few decades: They're easier to steer and a great deal less likely to go wrong. So it takes a certain amount of nerve to plunge 2,000ft relying on a "chute designed in an era when heretic astronomers were being burned at the stake."

But Olivier Vietti-Teppa, 36, a Swiss daredevil jumped at the weekend using a parachute based on sketches made by the artist in 1485. Vietti-Teppa is the first person to have made it safely to the ground with the da Vinci model. In 2000, Briton Adrian Nicholas tried it but had to use a back-up parachute to complete his descent. Mr Vietti-Teppa's parachute was made using modern fabric along lines imagined by da Vinci. The specifications were found in a manuscript dating from 1485.

The parachute consists of four equilateral triangles of fabric, seven yards on each side. The base of the pyramid is a square of mosquito net, which enables the parachute to open.

A wooden frame originally conceived by da Vinci was not used. It has one drawback - it is impossible to steer.

He said after the jump in Payerne, near Geneva: "It worked perfectly. I was unable to steer it, but I just glided gracefully to the ground. "I came down smack in the middle of the tarmac at Payerne military airport. A perfect jump."

Vietti-Teppa confided that he had been wearing a modern reserve parachute in case da Vinci's design - made out of four triangles of fabric and with a pointed top - had failed to open.