###Lots of people flew before the Wright Brothers. Some of them even survived!###
The Wright Brothers are credited as inventors of the airplane not because they flew, but because they were the first to take flight in a vehicle which:
- Lifted itself using its own power (which gliders and kites did not)
- Was aerodynamically controllable by the pilot (which Ader's aircraft was not)
- Remained in sustained flight, rather than taking momentary flight before returning to Earth