[Swordmaker]

"So, reeling back toward Flight 800 as I recall I was the only one on any of the threads to note that a bolid coming in over the horizon would look like a missile streaking up and not a meteor simply going into low orbit where it connected with an airplane."

After slicing on Occam's Razor, your explanation seems likeliest.

However, that doesn't explain why the Feds went to such ridiculous lengths to conduct such a crazy explanation that defies known principals of flight and the law of gravity.

That theory was raised, but it doesn't survive the triangulation of the witnesses viewpoints. A bolide would only appear to rise, coming over the horizon from a single vector, not from the 270° degrees around that the witnesses observing the incident were located. The bolide hypothesis, is, ahem, shot down.

[UCANSEE2]

The bolide hypothesis, is, ahem, shot down.

Which is why I said the 'likeliest'. It was the simplest, and didn't even require human error. It appeared to fit some of the facts. But not all of the facts.

That is what is so great about F.R. One person can't know 'everything' but thousands of people can. You provided information which would seem to exclude the bolide theory. So... the discussion continues and we all know more today than we did yesterday. Everyone wins.