May 6: After four years of work and failed flights, Samuel P. Langley succeeds in obtaining good results with his steam-powered, model-size, tandem-wing airplane. His model No.5 makes a flight of 3,300 feet (c. 1 km).
August 9: Otto Lilienthal crashes in his No.11 glider while flying from the Rhinower Hill range and dies the next day. He made approximately 2,500 flights in his various gliders.