Wasn’t it the press sec to JFK that said it was friendly fire???
I don’t think that it was friendly fire, even if we were out there. But I suspect that the reason they were doing live fire exercises out there (which actually couldn’t reach as high as the plane, from what I recall reading at the time) was that there had been some kind of a warning or alert, and this was meant to scare off the terrorists or at least show them we were onto them.
Obviously, it didn’t; for one thing, they weren’t even doing it at the time that the plane was struck, and I’m sure the jihadis knew when they’d be safe. I’ve never been sure whether this was launched from the shore or from a boat, however. They found something that looked like the remains of a tripod (not necessary for a MANPAD, but helpful) in the dunes behind Jones Beach, IIRC, but they said it was for “large fireworks.”
Another thing that I recall reading was that normally, an El Al flight left at that time. For some reason, it was delayed and Flight 800 took its place in the line-up.
I think this was a carefully planned attack.