[Lewis Thomson (OP)]

Donald wants help finding answers to this

"Considering the housefly and it's amazing ability to fly and such a tiny brain, how much computing power does the fly's brain have and use for flight as compared to an autopilot set-up in a plane? Obviously flight is not learned but innate in such a tiny, short lived organism, so how is it so easily transferred through DNA? And is the human innate ability to learn and speak languages a genetic transfer similar to a fly's innate knowledge of flying. How could this be in DNA?"

Discuss your thoughts in the comments below...

[evan_au]

Bees have been used as inspiration for self-guiding rockets and drones.
Drosophila Flies have the advantage that their brains and genetics have been studied in more detail than bees.

But if a goldfish can steer a tank, why not?

[alancalverd]

Flies have an automatic wing-leveller: what would be their second pair of wings has evolved into "halteres" which vibrate rapidly  and provide gyroscopic input. It's fascinating to watch (in slow motion) house flies landing on a ceiling by a somersault maneuver. I am perpetually in awe of anything that flies better than I can - and that means every animal born with wings! 

[Bored chemist]

Apparently they taught pigeons to fly... a bomb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon

[alancalverd]

Terrain recognition was used for early cruise missiles, so the pigeons' navigating abilities were not wasted but incorporated into some very neat software. But navigation is only half of flying - maintaining an appropriate altitude, speed and descent profile being the other bit, and whilst birds and insects do that very well for themselves, I haven't seen  a mechanism that allows then to control those parameters of a larger vehicle.