Most assumed the same thing initially, including James Kallstrom, because of the reports flooding in to the Coast Guard and the Suffolk County Sheriff's office of a fiery streak ending in a Massive Fireball, the assumption being that the Massive Fireball explosion was the 747 blowing up when struck by a missile. However, the timeline and altitudes of the major events was approximately as follows.
8:31:11 Intact and climbing 747 approaches 13,800 feet.
8:31:12 Initiating Event at 13,800 feet followed immediately by the commencement of the decapitation process.
8:31:43-8:31:47 Streak of light appears.
8:31:47 Explosion of Massive Fireball at 5500-7500 feet.
8:31:55-8:31:57 Splashdown of the Massive Fireball flames.
Source - The "Missile Witnesses" Myth.
Those who have believed for over six years that Flight 800 was a "shootdown" victim find that hard to believe but during all those years none of them has been able put together a sequential timeline of thir own that would support the "shootdown" allegations. Recently, Swordmaker, a "shootdown" conspiracy theorist, published a sequential timeline but it was in irreoncilable conflict with other known facts, not the least of which were the reports of the conspiracy theorists' own three Star "shootdown" witnesses. His sequential timeline can be reviewed in its entirety by clicking here.