I worked with a guy - this was back in ‘97 - and his sister was on the coast of LI and absolutely saw a light going up to the plane, then the explosion.
Similar stories were told by several people until suppressed
When this happened there were many here on FR never believed the story. They had friends or relatives who saw the missle heading toward the plane. There was a large group of people at a party in the Hamptons that saw the missile and even took a photo of it. Of course the government confiscated the camera.
When some debris washed up on shore there was an investigator who tried to have it analyzed. I think the government fought him legally and gave him a very hard time. Does anyone here remember any of those details?