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I am also skeptical of the missile theory because of this Captain's testimony:

http://ntsb.gov/events/twa800/exhibits/Ex_4A_appZ.pdf

Read his testimony. It is interesting that he saw a bright light coming from inside or on TWA 800 for a while before the explosion. He is reportedly the only person that was actually looking at the plane all the while before, during and after the explosion (page 39 of the testimony) He was piloting a 737 in the area at the time and was also a Navy pilot during Vietnam. He did not see any missile or streak prior to the explosion.

One man's account against 270 witnesses and a tape. It's the equivalent of the 4 swift-boaters backing Kerry against the hundreds who told the truth.

He is reportedly the only person that was actually looking at the plane all the while

Bunk.

School principal Joseph Delgado told the FBI he saw an object like "a firework" ascend almost vertically

Delgado saw TWA Flight 800 "glitter" in the sky and the ascending object move up toward it. He thought at first it was "going to slightly miss" the 747, but it appeared to make "a dramatic correction at the last second." Then Delgado saw a "white puff."

And 22,000 feet overhead, Dwight Brumley, a retired 25-year United States Navy master chief, relaxed on US Air 217 as it headed north to Providence, R.I.

TWA Flight 800, a workhorse 747 wide body, had left the JFK runway at 8:19, made a wide turn to the south, and then turned back east. It ascended slowly to more than 13,000 feet and held there to let Dwight Brumley's plane, US Air 217, pass comfortably overhead. There were 230 people on board.

Now he (Angelides), Wire, Perry, Meyer, Baur, Goss, Delgado, and Brumley watched as the plane's fuel tanks exploded, and Flight 800 morphed into what Delgado described as a "firebox" and others described as a "fireball."

By the FBI's own count, 270 eyewitnesses saw a flaming object ascend towards TWA Flight 800. Scores of those tracked it from the horizon all the way to the doomed airplane. The New York Times would not interview one of them.

I'm very suspicious that Captain McClaine's testimony was "cherry picked" because of paragraph five of his summary on page four;

.."Prior to the explosion, I did not see any missile.."

Hopefully we'll all ignore paragraph one where "..a very bright light....definitely the brightest light in the sky...", is what initially caught his attention.

Looking downward {assuming} against the darkening earth/ocean would McClaine notice a trail of smoke? I don't think so, but rocket flame on the other hand would stand out. {bright light?}