Abbas ibn Firnas tries to fly
A Córdoba polymath flies on wings but forgets a tail
According to the 17th-century historian al-Maqqari, the Andalusi inventor covered himself in feathers, fitted wings and flew a considerable distance, but badly hurt his back on landing: he had not realised that birds land on their tails and had not made himself one.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 9th century
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Two medieval would-be aviators blamed their crashes on the same thing: forgetting a tail. The story is told both of Abbas ibn Firnas in 9th-century Córdoba and of the English monk Eilmer, who leapt from a tower around 1010. Share →
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Alive at the time
- Charles the Bald (aged 52)
- Rurik (aged 45)
- Oleg the Wise (aged 30)
- Alfred the Great (aged 26)
- Edward the Elder (aged 1)