My first idea was more like a hover kind of thing, so that it would be easier to cross larger areas that you couldn't jump/make a platform/vine across. But, that just felt and looked kind of weird. I messed with having it drop a little and then drop a little more, kind of like a bird does with it flies, like drop, go up, drop, but then that still wasn't 100% perfect. So then I changed the basic mechanics of flight height and the rest, and now I feel like it's more like a bird taking off. I didn't want it to feel like Super Mario's flying ability, but more like how I think flying would react in this set up, if that makes sense, and I think it works really well now. You can fly, hover, drop, and it moves in a way that's slightly erratic, but feels like how flying with wings that can't quite hold your weight (just barely) should feel.

I might tweak it even more a little later, but I like how this moves now. It's less gliding and hovering, and more fluttering and slight glide and flapping and a bit more naturalistic and interesting.