Corrected entry: When the Alien appears behind Brett, we first see its tail lowering before the rest of its body, even though the tail is presumably how the creature was being suspended in the air. Immediately after chomping Brett's head, he and the creature are lifted upwards, again presumably by its tail, though it's not long enough to carry them the implied distance and it's unclear what it has latched onto in the first place. This scene starts a tradition of sorts, as both 'Aliens' and 'Alien 3' feature their own scenes in which an Alien grabs a victim and both are subsequently lifted upwards by a great height, presumably by the creature's tail, and the mechanics by which this is possible and even where exactly they're going off to are always obscured to the point where the creature may as well be wearing a jet pack.
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Correction: The alien is suspended from the chains above Brett by its feet and hands. In the Director's cut this is more shown. There are also extended versions of the scene which make it more obvious what happens before and after Brett is bitten. The creature uses the chains to escape to the ducts and those are certainly well within reach of the ground. The scene you refer to in Aliens, in which Dietrich is grabbed, shows the alien using its legs to walk backwards up the wall as it carries her, the tail is not involved. These creatures are shown in all the films to possess an ability to grip walls and other surfaces similar to insects, and they are shown with remarkable flexibility, agility, and strength.
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