My experience with flipping is that if you run off a ledge, you wind up moving slower through the air then if you flip off a surface (and consequently, don't bounce as much). Though maybe I'm talking about something totally different from your experience.
Fun times! I was playing through Undying and made it to Space Station 2 before dying. I continued, and it loaded my undying game--in which I had skipped most of the trinkets. Consequently, I didn't have any of them. I played through, went back, got the trinkets... and still only had 18! I scratched my head and realized I'd forgotten the ones in the starting area.
After going back into the Space Station 1 teleporter to work my way backwards... Veridian promptly said, "A teleporter! I can get back with this!" I went into Quicksand, and the game hint to use arrows for flipping popped up. I went into Trench Warfare and got the cutscene regarding trinkets. When I got my trinkets and went back through the teleporter, it brought up the cutscene with Violet and told me that I'd completed the level and finally rescued all my crewmen. Except the others were now missing.
I had 20 trinkets and no crewmates. Weird.