[DJ MacWoW]

"We saw a huge red, orange sphere just erupt," said Sven Faret, a private pilot on a pleasure flight who saw the explosion off to his right from the air.

Faret said he and a co-pilot were about 11 miles from Flight 800, flying at 8,500 feet, about a thousand feet higher than the doomed passenger jet. It went "straight down, like a rock," he said.

No evidence of terrorism in TWA crash, U.S. officials say July 18, 1996 Web posted at: 2:30 p.m. EDT

[Hal1950]

Here's the report of airborne witnesses Faret & Wendell.