Comments on: DaVinci's Parachute Flies - 523 Years Later

DaVinci's Parachute Flies - 523 Years Later

webhund — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:49:21 -0800

523 years after his original drawing, DaVinci's parachute design is proven to actually work. There was an earlier attempt, but apparently the wooden frame specified by DaVinci likely would have seriously maimed the jumper. Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, the 2008 jump was made from a helicopter - another one of DaVinci's concepts.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:56:07 -0800

Yay Leonardo! You know, I am not crazy about heights but I think I would have taken the jump - Leonardo was pretty clever, and seemed to have an intuitive grasp on this sort of thing that few, if any, have matched.

By: oddman

oddman — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:01:09 -0800

Well sure it's cool that it works and all. Kudos, really. But, what has he done for us lately?

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:04:33 -0800

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:05:56 -0800

This is silly. It's an awful design that barely works. It's more the concept that's impressive than the specifics.

By: ardgedee

ardgedee — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:06:38 -0800

> Well sure it's cool that it works and all. Kudos, really. But, what has he done for us lately? Leonardo da Vinci and His Fightin' Genius Time Commandos!

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:12:16 -0800

It is impressive, smackfu, to see that his concept was sound, even though he designed it without the benefit of modern materials and tools. I do not think it is an "awful" design at all.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:42:36 -0800

What I mean is if he had just drawn a circular parachute with a hole in the middle, that would've just worked in the 1500s or whatever.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 12:55:03 -0800

Also, DaVinci's design used wood, which wouldn't have worked.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:00:37 -0800

I'm a huge fan of Da Vinci, I mean, the guy is kind of a personal hero and all, but there is no way I would trust his helicopter. His parachute, sure. His bird-modeled gliders, possibly. But the air screw? Fuck that. I mean, if nothing else, think about how dizzy you would get if it worked.

By: Nick Verstayne

Nick Verstayne — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:11:36 -0800

Main link looked a little Blue to me. "Get full coverage on this topic and more with a FREE trial"! (Me? 27 free, 5 static line. Thanks for the idea, Leo.)

By: popcassady

popcassady — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:29:37 -0800

As well as inventing the parachute, Da Vinci must have invented the activity of 'parachuting'. Who was to use this new invention? Where were they to jump from? Was it to be for fun?

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:04:04 -0800

This comes perilously close to vindicating Hudson Hawk, and must be stopped.

By: jayCampbell

jayCampbell — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:05:30 -0800

Leonardo summarizes it here.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:11:43 -0800

Argh, I was hoping no one would mention Hudson Hawk. That's the first thing that popped into my head when I read this.

By: splice

splice — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:14:40 -0800

Count me as thoroughly unimpressed. Da Vinci's original design said: "If a man is provided with a length of gummed linen cloth with a length of 12 yards on each side and 12 yards high, he can jump from any great height whatsoever without injury." So basically, this "successful test" consisted of redesigning every parameter of the parachute save its general shape. Linen cloth? Uh no, let's go with modern materials instead. 12 yards? No way, let's go with 7 yards instead. Those wires? Not enough of them, and they seem too short, let's lengthen them. The wooden frame? Let's do away with it entirely. How on earth is this Da Vinci's design? It's not the same materials, not the same size, not the same specs, and the one tested doesn't even have the frame Da Vinci designed. Congratulations on testing a pyramid shaped parachute, but it's just somewhat similar to what Da Vinci designed, it's not the same by a long shot.