Jumper uses Leonardo-designed parachute

PAYERNE , Sweden, April 28 (UPI) -- A Swiss parachutist says he has successfully completed a jump using a parachute designed in 1485 by Leonardo da Vinci.

Olivier Vietti-Teppa, the first person to successfully use the renaissance artist and thinker's parachute design, said his 2,130-foot descent from a helicopter to a Swiss military airbase in the town of Payerne was "a perfect jump," Sky News reported Monday.

Vietti-Teppa's chute was made from modern fabric, but was cut to specifications designed by Leonardo. The design includes four equilateral triangles, each measuring about 23 feet per side, arranged in a pyramid shape with a square mosquito net at the base.

The daredevil said the design does not allow for any steering on the part of the jumper, but he "came down smack in the middle of the tarmac" at his target destination.