Airships (v 1.0.22) now supports mod cross-loading, which means that you can enter any modded multiplayer game and it will automatically transfer over and activate any mods you need.
It also takes care of managing multiple versions of mods, so if you have the wrong version of a mod, it can transfer it over.
Security-wise: Airships mods are entirely data-driven, so you're not copying over any executable code.
The game also keeps the crossloaded mods separate, so it won't overwrite any existing mods you have installed.