jharper aaatttt cisco dddooottt com wrote:

One thing to add to what the other posters have said...
in a climbing turn a plane can easily appear to be
stationary for a short while. Not sure about the optics
of this but from my office area I can see planes taking
off from San Jose and starting the right turn for the
standard departure course, and this illusion is quite
common. Combine that with a strong headwind and the effect
of the size of the plane, and you could easily believe it
had stopped.

John

yes, but as best as I could tell, the plane wasn't turning. It appeared
to be taking a straight path up, or trying to anyway.

Debbie