Aerodynamic brake and method of aerodynamically braking a vehicle

An aircraft, comprising:

• a pair of wings;
• at least one aerodynamic brake mounted to a wing upper surface of each wing, each aerodynamic brake including:
• at least one rigid panel having a panel leading edge portion;
• at least one flexible sheet having a sheet lower edge portion and a sheet upper edge portion, the sheet lower edge portion coupled to the wing, the sheet upper edge portion coupled to the panel leading edge portion;
• at least one panel actuator configured to move the at least one rigid panel between a stowed position and a deployed position;
• in the stowed position, the at least one rigid panel being positioned proximate the wing and covering the at least one flexible sheet in a folded state between the at least one rigid panel and the wing;
• and
• in the deployed position, the panel leading edge portion being moved away from the wing and the at least one flexible sheet being in an open state exposable to an oncoming airflow relative to a forward-moving direction of the aircraft for generating aerodynamic drag for slowing the aircraft.

A method of aerodynamically braking a vehicle, comprising:

• moving the vehicle along a forward-moving direction causing an oncoming airflow to pass over a vehicle body;
• deploying an aerodynamic brake from the vehicle body by performing the following:
• moving, using a panel actuator, at least one rigid panel from a stowed position to a deployed position, the at least one rigid panel in the stowed position being proximate the vehicle body and covering at least one flexible sheet in a folded state having a sheet lower edge portion coupled to the vehicle body and a sheet upper edge portion coupled to a panel leading edge portion, the at least one rigid panel in the deployed position having the panel leading edge portion moved away from the vehicle body;
• and
• transitioning, when moving the at least one rigid panel from the stowed position to the deployed position, the at least one flexible sheet from the folded state to an open state exposing the at least one flexible sheet to the oncoming airflow relative to the forward-moving direction of the vehicle;
• and
• generating aerodynamic drag of the vehicle in response to deploying the aerodynamic brake.