[Non-Sequitur]

That is not a description of any of the SAM missiles the navy uses. A Standard SAM is 14 1/2 feet long and would have been spitting out a stream of smoke and flame. No way that any military person could have confused it with a flare, even for a second. Any conversation among the helo pilots wouldn't have been "Gee, does that look like a flare to you?", it would have been "Holy sh*t, who shot off the missile?"

Here is an example of what a Standard RIM-67 launch looks like in the day. Tell me that someone would have missed this at night.

[hattend]

Any conversation among the helo pilots wouldn't have been "Gee, does that look like a flare to you?", it would have been "Holy sh*t, who shot off the missile?"

Here is an example of what a Standard RIM-67 launch looks like in the day. Tell me that someone would have missed this at night.

What can I tell you...they were there. You and I weren't. They said they saw a missile. Why should I doubt what they saw?

BTW: A Sea Sparrow doesn't look quite that impressive coming off the launcher.

[acehai]

Any conversation among the helo pilots wouldn't have been "Gee, does that look like a flare to you?"

The word "flare" never entered the conversation between Meyer and Bauer. The question was "Is that Pyro?

Tell me that someone would have missed this at night.

It must be pointed out one more time that it was 8:12 P.M. EDT when the event occurred. It was NOT night. I personally flew over the area last year on July 17 at 8:20 P.M. EDT, and there was still enough daylight to see the buildings of Long Island, as well as air traffic out of JFK.