Flight

Published: 2002

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The First Man to Fly: Abbas Ibn Firnas

Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain invented, constructed, and tested the flying machine in the 800s A.D. Roger Bacon learned of flying machines from Arabic references to Ibn Firnas’ machine. The latter’s invention predates Bacon by 500 years and Da Vinci by some 700 years.

Around 875, Abbas Ibn Firnas built a flying apparatus by attaching feathers to a wooden frame, creating the first documented record of a primitive glider. One of the two surviving versions of his flight states:

After constructing the final version of his glider, he invited Cordoba to witness its success. People watched from a nearby tower as he flew some distance, but then the glider plummeted to the ground, causing him to injure his back…”

Depiction of Ibn Firnas in Flight 875 CE

The second account adds that, after failing to land, Ibn Firnas claimed he hadn’t noticed how birds use their tails to land and that he had forgotten the tail on his flying apparatus.

The back injury prevented Ibn Firnas from ever trying again. Grounded, he created a mechanized planetarium with revolving planets that simulated thunder and lightning and evolved a formula for manufacturing artificial crystals. Soon after, in 888, however, he died, primarily as a result of an ongoing struggle with his back injury from the flight.