Why is the flute transverse?

In my experience, trombones are pretty easy to carry. They’re not heavy, and your arms are close to the center of the body, not cranked off-center like flutists need to be. My intuition says that if flutes could be adapted to a less awkward pose, someone would have invented that a long time ago. Just IMO, perhaps I’d think differently if I’d spent my years on a different instrument.

The biggest weakness of the recorder is it’s soft tone that can’t be made louder - if you blow harder the pitch rises and quickly breaks.