Japanese inventor Gennai Yanagisawa is planning a flight of his one-man helicopter in the city of Vinci, Italy later this month. The flight will honour Leonardo da Vinci, who Yanagisawa credits as the inspiration for his device.

“The concept of my helicopter comes from Italy, and I’ve always wanted to fly it in da Vinci’s birthplace,” Yanagisawa told AP. “I’m very excited.”

Although AP says his GEN H-4 is the world’s smallest helicopter, Yanagisawa actually claims on his website that it is the smallest co-axial helicopter (one with two contra-rotating rotors, rather than a tail rotor). There’s a great gallery of images of the Inspector Gadet-esque device on his website too, along with a history of the device.

More crazy flying below the fold, including this man:

Another man inspired by da Vinci is Olivier Vietti-Teppa, who last month jumped out of a plane to prove that the inventor’s design for a parachute would work (video). If you fancy making one yourself here are some instructions and some advice: Don’t.

Finally in the news we have Yves Rossy, who strapped a wing and a bunch of rockets to his back and flew a few thousand metres above the Alps. Of the 360 degree roll he performed, Rossy later remarked “That was to impress the girls” (AP).

The Register notes:

Rossy has been working on his backpack plane equipment for years, following a madcap 1990s career of aerial stunts involving sky-surfing, fountain-surfing*, balloons, ordinary planes, parachutes and lord knows what else. In 2003, the former Swiss air force fighter jockey – currently an airline pilot in his day job – decided that his latest passion, gliding under an inflatable strapon wing, lacked a certain something – namely jet engines.

He likes to be called Fusion Man. No idea what the physics basis for this is, but it’s cool enough that I won’t complain.

The embedded video shows an earlier flight. I want one…