H for Hyperdrive

But seriously, I think that the takeoff and landing function should be exactly like helicopter normal flight.  The controls would be: throttle forward - sublight engine (normal jet-type flight), throttle backwards - hovering/repulsor flight (helicopter-type flight).  I believe that this would also make the flight more like it was in the movies.

I think that the main problem with having no parachutes in GC was that the ships were way to hard to land, and if you wanted to repair your ship on a space map is damn near impossible to get it back into the hangar without killing your ship.  Making a control system that is easy to use is important for fun gameplay.  Making the controls hard just so "nOoBs" can't fly doesn't help anyone, they'll still jump into the ships, and promptly crash them.  And if there's one thing I know about "NoObS", its that they never learn.