nature, Photography

Flight

20 Comments

Humanity has been enthralled with flight for centuries. As far back as the 15th century, Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci experimented with aircraft designs. He intensely studied birds and developed an amazing understanding of flight principles; his book Codex on the Flight of Birds contains incredible insight into basic aerodynamics.

Landing at CYEP Edmonton Parkland Airport.

Although he was unable to bring his designs to fruition because of the technological limitations of the time, he is credited with the fundamental design concepts for the hang glider and the helicopter.

Eagles over the Pacific.

He was far ahead of his time and at the forefront of the remarkable flying technologies that we now so readily take for granted.

Snowbirds Canadian Air Force Demonstration Team

What would da Vinci think of all our present flight capabilities? Everything from parasailing to drones to space flight?

Rufous hummingbird.

I think he would love it!

One more eagle.

Happy Thursday.

20 thoughts on “Flight”

    1. Thank you very much, Tricia. 😊 I think it’s possible that he may have envisioned a world where aircraft were in use but maybe not to the extent we use them now. He was such a polymath though that his imagination was probably a very rich place! Safe flying.

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  3. Leonardo dared to dream and we are lucky he did. He provided so many early concepts that led to what today looks like. We all look at soaring birds and wish we could fly. Luckily, there is air travel to take care of that. Happy Thursday Lynette. Allan

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    1. Thank you, Allan. Read about him when I was about 16 or so and remember being astonished at all the ideas he had so long ago. He was an original thinker and incredible polymath who not only was interested in a wide variety of concepts but who also looked at how they tied together. The urge to fly seems to be built into us humans but yes, we now have air travel, even though it’s more like entering a bus full of grumpy nervous people. 😉

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  8. I think you’re right, Da Vinci and other early pioneers, in flight and all other advances, would be delighted with how things progressed. Although they would probably have no concept of the potential negative influences on society of some of those changes. Just imagine the Wright brothers walking into an airport terminal 😂

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    1. I agree that they likely wouldn’t have anticipated the negatives. Many of these technological innovators, Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, for instance, were probably focussed only on unknotting the problem rather than on where the product could eventually go. Agreed – the Wright brothers would be astonished by our airport terminals!

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  9. I think you’re right, I’m sure da Vinci would be fascinated to see how much technology has changed with regards to flight and aviation. He truly was ahead of his time and makes you wonder what could have been if he was born in a later time period.

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    1. Agreed – I’ve definitely wondered what he would make of today’s innovations and also what he would have accomplished if he had been born later. He was such an amazing polymath. Probably one of the most intelligent people ever born.

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