Though all in all I like the idea... the carrier would need an option to accept or decline docking permission.
I think carriers by nature are more suited to an enviroment like Starlancer, where there are few planets and space stations, and fighters are short range, thus requiring a carrier to move them around. While in the Freelancer enviroment, there are many bases and planets pretty close together, fighters are long range.
Is it an awsome idea? Yes.
Does it fit with Freelancer? Not really...
Is it necissary? No...
I vote that this idea should only be implemented after all the important features in a mod update are finished. No point wasting time on something we don't really need when there are more important things to work on.
As a substitute... you could just Roleplay docking with a carrier, and enter into formation with it. This is a roleplaying server after all.