DM wrote in message ...
Yesterday I saw a cargo jet (a major air express company) come to what
seemed like a dead stop in midair as it was making its ascent. After
about 20 - 30 seconds of hanging without dropping out of the sky, it
continued climbing and apparently did not crash. There's been nothing
about it in the local news but I've still been very concerned. Could
someone here explain how such a thing is possible?

If the plane did get too slow ( a very unlikely possibility) the nose
would drop and the plane would accelerate again. That would assume the
pilots ignored the clax horn, the shaking controls and the indicator
on the airspeed.
I grew up in a military environment and often saw very large planes
(like giant C-5 cargo planes) coming and going. They always looked
like they were stopped in midair. The huge size makes your brain think
they can't be that big and therefor must be closer, smaller, and
moving slower than they really are.

-Roebrt