Whatever happened likely occurred over or near New Jersey. According to PASSUR, the next two westbound departures (one American, one JetBlue) ended up flying in circles over the Atlantic for 10 minutes or so. Yeh, even though I might have misread the time, I noticed that circling of the next couple of flights.
That's a really cool site, BTW. Do they have the service for other airports? I'd particularly like to see ones along the Panhandle and west Coast of Florida.
There's a complete list of PASSUR airports
here.
AWE 17 would have been at least at 12,000 feet and climbing near Colts Neck, NJ, which is about 30 miles from JFK.. The Earle Naval Ammo Depot and Camp Charles Wood are nearby.
The turn to the northwest occurred well after Colts Neck.