Faret's observations are, of course, interesting. But I think they have to fit with the other evidence too. There is no doubt that some people are just going to be mistaken about what they saw and heard. There is little room for doubt that TWA 800 made it up to about 13,700 feet and was at that altitude when something happened to the plane. Faret says, "Very shortly thereafter the [ascending] white light exploded instantaneously into a huge red-orange ball." So it would seem in Faret's view that the white light reached TWA 800's altitude. The only other alternative is that something happened to TWA 800, which caused it to fall unnoticed for those 6000 feet and it just happened coincidentally to explode in the vicinity of the white light just as it was running out of fuel. Of course the government says the ball of flame went UP (from 13,700); and McClaine says it initially appeared somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 and went straight down.
McClaine's observations regarding the fireball altitude make sense to me, and seem most consistent with data not subject to challenge by anyone.
ML/NJ