Abbas ibn Firnas' gliding attempt
Vuelo planeado de Abbás ibn Firnás
- Date
- c. 875 · confidence low
- Place
- Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain
- Credited to
- Abbas ibn Firnas
- People
- 👤 Abbás Ibn Firnás810–887
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The polymath from Cordoba launched himself from a height with a frame covered in feathers and wings, glided some distance and was injured on landing, attributing the failure to the lack of a tail. It is one of the earliest documented attempts at human flight.
The only source is al-Maqqari (17th century), who cites a 9th-century poet; the date and details are uncertain. Ibn Firnas is better documented as a rock-crystal cutter and the builder of a water clock.
What it led to
- reflection on the tail as a stabiliser
- legends of flight in al-Andalus
- later attempts such as that of Eilmer of Malmesbury