Pretty sure that no one is trying to belittle you or gang up on you.  You have an opinion, and it sounds like it may be a firmly entrenched belief.

And that's cool.  None of this is real, so it's cool to have differing opinions from time to time.

Let me just suggest that there is no mention of Storm's cape being used as a flight aid in any Handbook, or Guide to Weapons and Paraphernalia, or the like.  

Her headdress and lock-picks could be noted as mission-assisting paraphernalia, but her cape receives nary a mention.

But in terms of her flying, here's what the Handbook does say:

So...  yeah.  There's that.

QUOTE: Maybe, with all of us, the roof would cave in though.

Not if we were wearing capes...

(I kid. I kid.)

If we were all ten years old, laying on the roof of my dad's garage, drinking Coke and debating this as the sun set over the neighbor's house-- it would be the best.

........................

That sounds amazing, Mark. Thank you for the image.

As it's been proved beyond doubt Storm can fly without a cape (and ostensibly accepted by doubting Tom), I will address the issue of why its not even needed as an aid for steering.

As Bill Dowling pointed out, there are numerous occasions when Storm would fly the whole team (IIRC another instance is in the first issue of Secret Wars). If they don't need capes to steer, neither does she.

Further to that, it has been established many times that her control over the weather is almost total. When she can control the very winds propelling her, why use a cape to steer in that wind? It would surely be more difficult than just using the wind over which she has 'absolute' control anyway.

I put absolute control in inverted commas, because I think it was a term Claremont used to use quite a bit to describe Storm's control over the weather. But I think there were limits -- didn't that happen in the first fight with Alpha Flight?

This last twist with Magneto's escape is so mustache-twirling classic villain, I love it. He's brutal, but a coward.