[muawiyah]

If a hunk of rock or two traveling 25,000 to 160,000 KPH, weighing maybe half a kilo, hit the plane outside it'd been severely damaged.

There was a meteor shower that evening, and the plane was taking off into the first minutes of our contact with the debris field where you find the biggest chunks.

BTW, the rocks would have been coming over the horizon and would have looked like missiles.

Flight 800 occurred on July 17, 1996 ~ the SOUTH DELTA AQUARIDS, with medium speed meteorites, began mid-July and ended mid-August. There are two streams of debris in this field made up of at least 2 disintegrated comets.

I suspect the examiners were under intense pressure from the aircraft manufacturers to come up with anything but the conclusion that a meteorite had taken out a large airplane.

[Himyar]

I remember on 9/11 George Stephanotises (or however you spell it) was being interviewed. The interviewer was asking what was going on at the White House. George said “After the bombing on TWA 800 we met in the situation room” or something close to that.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

muawiyah ~:” BTW, the rocks would have been coming over the horizon and would have looked like missiles.”

Agreed about the meteorites looking like missles.
But the plume / trail would be horizontal or diagonal .
The photo which I saw was definitely verticle .