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And meanwhile, wasn't the air in the mines, especially at the bridge, cold and sinking? No hot updrafts? So even a jet (or an eagle) might have dropped in those conditions, as they sometimes do when encountering downdrafts while crossing mountains.
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That may be true, but this is not the only instance of Balrogs falling. Two "died" by falling of cliffs. If Tolkien meant for Balrogs to be able to fly, he would not have written three instances where they fell, without giving any explanation of why they didn't just fly away. So, even without the damning evidence provided by child, we can say, beyond all
reasonable doubt, that Balrogs could not fly.
We know that Sauron changed into a flying creature and flew away, so it stands to reason that the Balrogs as Maiar could have given themselves wings that worked. I can't see that Balrogs would give themselves wings to intimidate but decide that they didn't want these wings to work. That would be incredibly stupid.
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I think that Balrogs could've had wings if they chose but didn't have wings so they couldn't fly but if they did they still couldn't fly unless they wanted to fly in which case they could but only if they had had wings but they didn't have wings since they couldn't fly.
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Why was this quote largely ignored?