It kind of makes me think about you as a passenger being relocated from a left window seat to a right window seat in 3 secs. The aircraft weighing a lot more would have a great deal more resistance to moving that far.
Well, yes, exactly - therefore my question - how much could be done? Thinking about it (and please correct me if I'm wrong), the biggest deviation could be achieved in the vertical direction, more specifically down, as aided by gravity. However, thinking further, it seems that in this particular instance, with flight 1549, it would be a bad idea to try to duck under the geese. Because, if unsuccessful, one would end w/o engines, at a lower altitude, worse off than if no action was taken.
So, is there consensus, that in cases like this, where you see the birds just small seconds before intersecting them, you can't realistically expect to be able to do anything to avoid them?