The Lilienthal standard glider was the single most influential winged aircraft prior to the work of the Wright brothers (Wright, Wilbur and Orville). Lilienthal made some 2,000 flights in at least 16 different glider types between 1891 and 1896. The largest number of flights were made with his standard glider, a monoplane aircraft with a stabilizing tail at the rear and wings that resembled “the outspread pinions of a soaring bird.” The wing ribs and other covered portions of the aircraft were usually constructed of split willow. The wing covering was cotton twill shirting, doped with a colloidal solution to make it more airtight.

In the standard glider, the operator hung suspended between the two halves of the wing. The operator shifted his weight to move the centre of gravity and exercise some measure of control over the motion of the craft. Although Lilienthal recognized the danger and inadequacy of this method of flight control and gave some thought to alternative systems, he did not develop or test them. Lilienthal sold several standard gliders to other experimenters as far distant as Russia and the United States. Lilienthal was flying a standard glider at an altitude of about 15 metres (50 feet) on Aug. 9, 1896, when his plane stalled and crashed. He died the next day in a Berlin hospital. See also flight, history of.