Fol. 12v

Codex of Leonardo ‘To avoid the peril of falling’.
This is how Leonardo titles this page, which is entirely devoted to the safety of the flying machine, and in particular to the risk of overturning in flight.
The pilot must learn to avoid this by rapidly moving the wings and tail.

«Può verificarsi la caduta di tali macchine in due modi, il primo dei quali sta nel rompersi della macchina stessa, il secondo si ha quando il congegno si disponesse di taglio o vicino al taglio, perché deve sempre discendere con elevata obliquità e quasi per la linea di equilibrio. Per prevenire il rompersi della macchina la si farà di grandissima resistenza lungo qualunque linea sia suscettibile di voltarsi, o per taglio cadente o con la testa in avanti ovvero con la punta dell'ala destra o sinistra per la metà o un quarto delle dette linee, come mostra il disegno»
(The fall of these machines can occur in two ways. The first of these lies in the breaking of the machine itself; the second occurs when the mechanism is positioned edgewise or close to edgewise, so that it is always necessary to descend with a high degree of obliquity and almost in the line of equilibrium. To avoid the breaking of the machine it should be made with extreme resistance along whichever line is susceptible to turning, either edgewise in falling, or with the head in front, or with the point of the right or left wing by the half or a quarter of said lines, as the drawing shows.)

NOTE. For each page of Leonardo’s Codex we provide a brief summary, with the quotation of one that page’s most significant passages edited in modern Italian, with an English translation.

translation by Kim Williams