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Finally, up from the surface questions: Most simple. From where most of the witnesses were standing, the A/C was at or below the horizon. Why? Curvature of the earth. Many times have stood where those witnesses were and watched Europe-bound A/C that look like they are 500 feet AGL, until you realize they out over the Atlantic and are actually 15,000 feet AGL +/-.

BULLPUCKY!!!! I live in the Central Valley of California... the Sierra Nevada Mountains are due east of me approximately 50-75 miles away. The altitude of these mountains is approximately 15,000 feet max and I can look out my window and see them quite nicely, thank you.

Flight 800 was between 10 and 15 miles from most witnesses. The horizon line for a person standing with his eyes 30 feet above sea level is about seven miles away... and that person can see something by line of sight 14 miles away if it is also 30 feet or more above sea level. Do you have any other strawman arguments (untruths) to offer?

If I recall correctly, the radar horizon for one of the active radars that was about 22 miles away was 43 feet because the antenna was mounted on a tower.

If I recall correctly, the radar horizon for one of the active radars that was about 22 miles away was 43 feet because the antenna was mounted on a tower.

Oops... I did not word that last paragraph quite right. The 43 feet is the distance above the ocean that the radar COULD NOT SEE because it was below the horizon. The actual horizon was about 13 miles from the radar. Sorry about that.

Actually, no. A/C was 12-15 miles offshore from firtually uninhabited Great Barrier Beach, often incorrectly called Fire Island.

The "witness" reports are often from much farther away, some as far as 72 miles.

There is another problem. Where you live, you probably can see the mountains with no problem due to the sparseness of the area. On Long Island, most areas have a displaced horizon due to neighbooring houses, trees, etc.

One final item that ends argument. Witnesses report initial 5-10 second duration bright glow, followed by a much dimmer "loose" orange vertical streak, decreasing marketly in intensity, ending in extingusihment or little lights descending below horizon. This is indicitive of a kerosene explosion, and a zoom climb with fuel being consumed.

Missile attack would have been very short diration, well compacted intense white light, not orange-yellow light, followed by small, constantant intensity well formed white light, finally resulting in a large orange/yellow keresene explosion.