World's Smallest Helicopter to Visit Its Original Designer's Homeland

Igor Sikorsky is generally credited for spearheading the development of helicopters, but the man who envisioned the first vertical-flight machine was Leonardo da Vinci, more than five centuries before a helicopter was set in motion. Gennai Yanagiasawa however, a 75 year old Japanese helicopter developer, is credited for constructing the world's smallest helicopter, a machine weighing only 75 kilograms, without a tail and with counter rotating blades to ensure stability.

He plans to take the helicopter, called Gen H-4, all the way to Florence, Italy for a flight demonstration in honor of Leonardo da Vinci. "Since the concept of our helicopter came from Italy, I always wanted to take a flight in the birthplace of da Vinci. I feel like I'm greeting an ancestor. I hope da Vinci would be pleased", said Yanagisawa who visited Vinci back in February and received the blessing of mayor Darion Parrini.

GEN H-4 makes use of a pair of counter rotating blades to counteract the momentum generated in the case where a single rotating blade is used. In conventional helicopters carrying a single blade on the main rotor, this is done with the help of an aft rotor placed on the tail of the helicopter. GEN H-4 is capable of carrying a single person and can reach a top speed of 50 kilometers per hour. In February this year the Guinness World Records recognized GEN H-4 as the smallest helicopter ever developed.

Although born in Vinci, Leonardo spent only the first several years of his life there. The sketches detailing his vertical flying machine were discovered in the 19th century and are alleged to have been drawn by him somewhere around 1493.

GEN H-4 is sold by Yanagiasawa through his company and costs about 58,250 dollars. Only seven such helicopters have been sold worldwide, five in Japan and two in the United States. In the US, GEN H-4 is sold under license by the Air Scooter Corporation as an assembly kit, costing 30,000 US dollars.