I mean, I even noticed it when I was a kid.That's the 80s for ya, never in their wildest dreams did they imagine 40+ years on from when they wrote the scripts, did they envision a network of information where people from all over the world break apart their work, the good, the bad and the ugly sides of it, as for them, it was likely just Tuesday and that's before Tuesday became a thing!!
I don't remember them not being able to fly being a big deal in Season 3, up until Return of Optimus Prime, when Galvatron very clearly calls it out. Up to that point, it was post-movie, they got Cybertron back and fixed that giant hole in the corner, the Decepticons were vanquished to Chaar, and I just figured the Autobots decided to upgrade.