Fox's Fire Fox travels a little over half of FD; Falco's Fire Bird travels about a 2/3's. With customs Distant Fire Bird travels half - the same as Falco Phantasm - and Fast Fire Bird when slid travel the same as Fire Bird because of momentum, but when rolled - basically you're forcing the momentum to go away on the ground -, it travels less than Fire Bird. In the air, I think it travels less even though Falco does get momentum out of it and "somersaults" or rather, rolls into a free fall like a paratrooper. It think it's because Falco's jump is the best by default, but then you think of this: Luigi's jump is also good, but he has multiple ways to recover that make him dangerous, especially if he gets a misfire and he hits you. Falco gets none of that. Distant Fire Bird travels slower and charges slower - maybe slower than Fox's default Fire Fox - which for me, make it not worth it since Falco can still get gimped with it while Fox can be below the screen and make it back with Fire Fox.
There was no reason for Falco to not have a hitbox at the end of Falco Phantasm and there was no reason for him to lose a front hitbox on his Bair and have Wolf's Bair instead of his own. At disadvantage, Nair's unreliable and pretty much useless for him to try and get out of disadvantage. Meanwhile, Sheik has Nair, Bair, and I think Fair to get out, not to mention maybe Bouncing Fish and Vanish. Falco's way of getting out is either dying to start with a fresh stock or someone screwing up their follow ups.
Ganondorf has a better recovery even by default because he's so dangerous to challenge. If you screw up, Flame Choke slam or a Dark Dive that can and will ledge spike you not to mention that the uppercut is disjointed. Should I mention that he hits like a speeding train? Now, let's add in customs. Yeah, his recovery is probably better than Falco and Captain Falcon's. Ganondorf's not even supposed to be off stage like that. Have you seen the video where he jumps off the ledge,
Wizard's Dropkick to the other side and gets back to the ledge with Dark Fists?
Oh, but Falco's second jump. Screw you. Falco's second jump is crap compared to Yoshi's second jump or Shulk's Jump Art second jump which I should mention that Shulk's Air Slash gains height and I think Shulk's air speed gets better with Jump Art. We're talking about a bird that moves slower than a tank in the air. He's a bird not a damned rabbit. If Peppy or Slippy was in the game instead of Falco and had the best jumps, then I wouldn't care since it makes sense. Falco's a pheasant and last I checked, pheasants can't jump like that.
SSB4 is probably the most balanced, official game to date, but there are design choices that I question like Lucina's lack of tippers and being weaker than Marth despite having consistent damage, Dark Pit just being a straight up clone who plays almost identically to Pit while Lucina, (Fire Emblem) Roy, Dr. Mario, Ganondorf, Young Link, Falco, etc. all played different as clones not to mention slightly changing one move's damage, removing a tipper on his Ftilt... How about the Koopalings? Yeah, make them even less unique! Falco having Wolf's Bair, a Blaster that's "functional", Jabs not connecting properly, Rosalina's range and Luma's raw power, Diddy's stretchy limbs, two freaking, powerful projectiles for Villager, Toon Link not using any of the other Zelda item, and as everyone knows: Zelda's entire design which was FUBAR'd since Melee. Oh, it looks cool and it's powerful, but it's just so clunky and it just doesn't work as well as Ganondorf who is a defensive character who can be defensive or Rosalina, Pac-Man, Villager, etc.