The problem with Falco is that while he has a projectile, it's not a good one. You don't have to be afraid of it as much as say, Luigi, Robin, or Sheik's, but that doesn't mean you can bumrush in since Falco could just Reflector you back if he really needs space or use the fact you're in his zone, his game. The presence of a projectile and the fact he can always slap a 3% on you from afar is always there. That being said, it's much better than going in and letting him rack up at least 9% just from one hit or a full multi-hit hit. Add in his ability to pretty much combo from any move and that 9% becomes an 18%, a 27%, a 36%, a 45%, and so on and so forth. At the ledge, Falco can and will kill you at ~100% with a fresh, clean Bair, a Bair that on-reaction, is one of the fastest and strongest punishes in the game. It doesn't have range like Luigi, Samus, ZSS, or even Fox's, but theirs are about twice as slow. And what's range when you decide it's a good idea to be right next to him?
Treat Falco almost like Ganondorf if he had Fox's combo ability or Fox if he had Ganondorf's power. You don't want to be in range of either Fox or Ganondorf, so you don't want to be in Falco's. You don't want to be hit by Ganondorf, so you don't want to be hit by Falco. And you don't want to be comboed by Fox, so you don't want to be comboed by Falco. Here's the thing, though: you have a sword, so make use of it. Falco has the same problems as Fox and Ganondorf. Like Fox, he's light, so he can't take too much of a beating. Like Ganondorf, Falco is slow-moving, so, if Falco starts running in, then that means he wants something and it's easier to react to than Sonic, Captain Falcon, or Fox running in. And like the both of them, they're fast fallers, so they're prone to combos and gimps. Also, like the both of them, they lack significant disjoints. In the case of Falco, his only disjoints outside of Blaster and Reflector is a small one on Fair and technically the landing hit, but I think that's the same size as his Fair hitbox, but because of the animation, it looks much bigger and Dtilt which is about a third longer than what the trail shows. Fair used in neutral and on-stage is dangerous because of the landing lag, so don't expect that much, but Dtilt is a common tool since it's safe on-shield and can setup or kill.
Also, Falco is a basic character. That isn't to say he's a simple character, but he just doesn't have any tricks, any insane setups, or anything that other characters can't do or excel at. So, don't worry about some super secret setup that lets Falco kill you at 39% or something that should make you feel very confused like you don't know what to expect. He's not Duck Hunt, Pac-Man, or Rosalina and he's not Fox, Luigi, Meta Knight, Ryu, or ZSS. So, if you lose, it's kind of on you. The most Falco has are frame trap Uairs, back hit of Uair to Bair, ledge cancel jab to Nair, and frame canceled Nair to whatever which when you think about it, other characters have too like Captain Falcon can frame trap with his Uair, ZSS can also confirm a Bair with her back hit of Uair, Little Mac can ledge cancel jab to Up Special, and his frame cancel Nair is kind of like how Fox would fast fall Fair to setup, but in this case, it's actually involving a frame cancel to land without landing lag like how Bowser Jr. can land without landing lag from his Dair. This also means he's not Ganondorf who relies on reads and punishes to do anything; Falco's just versatile in a sense all moves have purpose which incidentally, almost all of his combo moves are kill moves - at around 150% is when pretty much all of his moves just meld together into kill mode time. Before that, around 100% to 120% is when Dtilt, Side Smash, and Bair start killing and Up Smash gets close to killing while moves like Nair, Uair, Fair, and Utilt start killing the closer you are to the blast zone. Edgeguarding, something Falco excels at mostly through his options and just how his aerials work; Bair just straightup kills you, Nair and Fair gimp or kill you, Dair's the obligatory slow spike, and Uair's probably not going to do a thing, but if he tips you with the late, front hit, he can send you into the blast zone if you're far enough and if not, with the initial, back hit, he can confirm a Bair from it which will definitely send you in. On the ledge, expect active frame abuse with Utilt and Up Smash.