“heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
Look up. Birds are heavier-than-air flying machines. Arrogance makes you stupid.
...and solipsism makes you arrogant.
The topic of this thread appears every few years, and this one is among the best and most extensive that I recall seeing. I've saved it electronically, but "progress" always conspires to make "permanent" records unusable without exception. But I digress.
By coincidence, just this morning as happens every year, a flock of several hundred Canada Geese flew directly over my home.
I am not a bird watcher, I have never owned a bird. But I am aware that, aside from cockroaches, birds are among the most common, and oldest biological examples in earths long history.
I do observe birds at every opportunity because, for me, they are among the most fascinating and persuasive examples of proof of God's existence.
I am also a lifelong aficionado of air travel, and know more than the average Joe about aerodynamics and aviation generally.
Perhaps all birds have the ability, but due to their long necks, that ability is most easily seen in geese. When flying their bodies must move slightly up and down just by flapping their wings, buy their heads remain stationary their entire flight. The long necks compensate instinctively, for body motion. Living biological gyroscopes.
I will assume that most Freepers are familiar with the concept and operation of gyroscopes and the evolution of inertial navigation. Science and technology have allowed inertial navigation to achieve exquisite accuracies. And so, evidently, have geese.