Plotbunny for sale - cheap

[KJ]

Though getting energy out of an deceleration just rubs me the wrong way.

Hrm, I can grok that. It holds to the general "spaceflight simulating airplanes" thing though.
Of course, in an energy-input form, something on the order of "it's sucking in waaaaaay more power than it's supposed to and thus glowing incandescent as it tries to slow things down" works too, except with the risk of screwing powerplants. Which is even more amusing.
... oh, and that's a great link.