Landing Runabouts?

[SpyOne]

I doubt they'd need any larger space that your average military helicopter...

Frequently the closest place to where the guys want to be that is suitable for landing a helicopter is miles away. This is why guys train in dropping from a helicopter on ropes.

So, how exactly does a comparison in size to a miltary helicopter rebut the idea that it is more convenient to beam down than it is to find a place to park an walk in?

 

[Timo]

...Of course, runabouts come equipped with very handy "daisy cutters" of their own. Not only could the phasers remove foliage (loosely defined as anything from tall grass to tall redwood), they could also level small hills if need be.

But usually our heroes don't want to leave marks in the local flora or geography, so we don't see all that much daisy cutting.

One might have expected Janeway to carve a spaceport or a foxhole for her ship whenever she landed in a hostile environment, though. The ship would probably be best protected while space- or airborne - but if she did land, she'd become quite a formidable fortress if buried in bedrock up to her dorsal phasers.

Timo Saloniemi