I don't know how they do an emergency stop in real, in the video it was just an idea. But I'm quite sure, that a hovercraft don't take any damage when the skirt deflates.
Is it right, that the hovercraft modelled in Shipsim hasn't got a reverse thrust in real? As I get the feeling in the game, you can only travel backwards with these rotatable exhaust-pipes and not with the main engines...
With special propellers it's possible to generate reverse thrust while changing the pitch. But then the hovercraft in game would go faster than 8kn backwards.