Somehow, I can picture a commercial dropship landing pad as a massively armored ring surrounding a deep hole in the ground, leading to a series of tunnels below, with filters and baffles to divert, detoxify, and disperse the lethal stream of hydrogen and various toxic by-products emitted from the fusion engines. The perimeter of the landing area would almost certainly have shielding walls to significantly reduce any direct radiation emissions or other high-speed particles from affecting nearby areas, such as a city located a mere 10 miles from the spaceport.
Landing in the field means vaporizing and sterilizing everything for a mile or more around, and doing extensive damage for miles beyond that. No need to clear the immediate area around the LZ, it's already QUITE clear for the next few minutes at the very least; then again, you don't dare exit the dropship until the searing heat and toxic gasses have dispersed a bit. This has a VERY significant impact on the other thread about hiding a dropship.....the searchers just have to look for the massive burn mark and/or fires covering several square miles, and possibly even visible with the old Mark I visual sensors (eyeballs) from low orbit.
