Evidence of a Missile
A Sweep by Sweep analysis of the radar data clearly depicts a plume of very high velocity metal exploding out of the aircraft's right side at approximately 20:31:13. The lead ejecta almost certainly has to be a missile body! With the aircraft on a heading of 071 degrees True, this radar contact separated laterally from the aircraft track on a ballistic trajectory of 190 degrees True, traveling about 3,200 feet in less than 7 seconds. This 119 degree change of direction and high velocity could not possibly have been the result of a Center Wing Tank explosion.
This is not theory or speculation, but hard physical evidence. It takes almost 2 seconds for a bullet fired from a military sniper rifle to travel that distance. Only a missile body, with it's hundreds of thousands of foot pounds (ft/lbs)* of kinetic energy would have the inertia to perform this way on radar. It only takes 6,000 ft/lbs of energy for a 50 caliber heavy machine gun bullet to punch through 3/8 inch thick steel plate. Boeing 747's are constructed of various aluminum alloys and rarely in thickness' exceeding 1/2 inch.
With this much energy, the missile body would slice through the aircraft "like a bullet through a tin can", just as I stated in my April 24, 1997 letter to the Wall Street Journal, in response to Chairman Hall's "It wasn't a missile" letter to the same paper. It is startling to note also that the trajectory of the ejecta (missile body & other parts) is on a direct line from an unidentified boat, 2.9 nautical miles to the Northeast of Flight 800 when it exploded.
The NTSB had compiled a statistical analysis of the eyewitness evidence in the Witness Group Factual Report: Exhibit 4A, which included the following findings:
"102 [eyewitnesses] gave information about the origin of the streak. Six said the streak originated from the air, and 96 said that it originated from the surface."