@captaincranky I completely agree that a birds requirement for flight is very different to humans needs. Regardless our flight tech is still fairly primitive. Obviously our main requirements are for transporting people/cargo from a-b efficiently and effectively. Having aircraft use less space for landing and takeoff would be a start.
Look, an ant can lift 50 times its own weight.. So, in light of that, any comparison between human and animals relative strength falls flat.
The state of our aviation technology is far from "primitive". We have hundreds to thousands of airfoil profiles, all based on lift to drag profiles. Now, unless we advance to the point of wings that can operate in a fluid profile state, the takeoff distances we have are likely to remain as they are.
Wing loading to thrust availability is a hard, fast arbiter of takeoff distances. Many times I've seen F-16s charge down the runway in full afterburn, pull up, and proceed to do at least 11 vertical rolls. So, is the ship actually "flying", or is it riding its initial inertia plus the exhaust gas column thrust. A jet engine can't keep this up indefinitely, as at a certain altitude, it will run out of oxygen and flame out. Not to mention that kerosene only has so many calories, or BTUs, per gallon.
Advances in material science are advancing aviation science. More and more carbon fiber is being used in lieu of metals in aircraft construction. It's got a higher strength to weight ration than most, (to all?) metals.
At the end of the day, four factors have the most profound effect on powered flight, (if not flight in general). Thrust to weight, and lift to drag, "conspire" to thwart the omnipresent gravity.
Arguably, you could stick afterburners on an airliner and get it off the ground a' hellin'. But, you wouldn't have any fuel left for the rest of the flight. Not to mention the fat lady in the 11th row might have a heart attack from the g forces involved. High lift airfoils, (as in gliders), also carry a penalty of high drag. So,they're a dead end if you want to fly at 500+ knots as do airliners.
Various bird based solutions for flight control have been tried and discarded as impractical. Notably, wing warping for directional control.
Reasonably, as the Wright brother's first flight was in 1903, and we were on the moon by the 1970's, I'd say "primitive" is a bit harsh.