See this video by nihontiger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW_66nxR1Pg

He was able to free fly out of the water after removing his flippers.

Yeah, flippers used to set the player's flying capability. We're working on making the flippers no longer need that capability (creative mode, basically) in order to achieve weightlessness in water.

Heh, cleaning up old issues I see.

Yeah, figured with the big overhaul release coming we may as well tidy up loose ends and make sure everything is in order that wasn't fixed before, so we can stay on top of the issues as they come in this time.