First of all, this is irrelevant.
Secondly, Mindbent, it is patently untrue.
Does not Long Island have a shoreline? Are your hypothetical line-of-sight blocking buildings built on the water??? Yes, there may be some buildings that obscure views along the shore. but they are by no means a continuous wall that blocks all views. Have these buildings no windows? Balconies? Decks? Many of the witnesses WERE located where they had unimpeded views. Some were on decks, some were on beaches, some were in buildings looking out windows. Your argument was that the aircraft would have been BELOW THE HORIZON... not buildings and other things blocking the view of the horizon. Now you are backpeddling as fast as you can, adding other strawman objections for you to pontificate upon.
Exactly which "eyewitnesses" are you citing that you believe watched the downing of TWA-800 from viewpoints where buildings were "blocking their view?" Did these persons just imagine they were seeing a plane going down? Do they claim X-ray vision? Or is this your argument another fabrication with no basis in the witnesses' statements?
Were those witness who claimed to see something rise "From the horizon" to hit the aircraft REALLY confused? Do you really think they would confabulate the relatively small altitude gain of the NTSB's revised 1100-1600 foot "zoom climb" of a crippled 747 trailing burning leaking fuel(an 8 - 11.6% increased altitude compared to the originating altitude), with a high velocity missile rising from far below? Would the positional differentials between 13,800 and 15,400 be even that significant at the distances the witnesses were standing?
You have yet to resond with anything resembling facts... just more of your opinion.
It is entirely possible, or it was in the months following the disaster, to go to the sites WITH the claimed witnesses and observe exactly what was possible to have been seen while the witness shows where he was standing, at what angles he saw what he claims. This was done in many instances... but not by the NTSB or even the FBI. The FBI did go to a few... but only with the flawed, third hand 302 reports in hand, and NO interaction with the witnesses.
You used the figure of 72 miles... do you have any idea of how many people LIVE and WORK in a 72 mile radius of the downing of TWA-800? It is actually amazing that only 700 or so eyewitnesses have been identified.
Do you even understand the question?
Do you understand the math? Do you understand that the higher a person's viewpoint the farther away the horizon appears? Do you know that the horizon line of a person approximately 6 feet tall standing on the waterline of the ocean, will appear to be about 4.5 miles away? Do you know that, barring atmospheric distortion, an object more than 6 feet above sea level may be visible 9 MILES away by line of sight by that person???
Your flat statement that the aircraft would have been below the "horizon" to most of the witnesses is false... and I showed you why.
You keep backpeddling... raising other strawmen.
More importantly, why are you still trying to flack some scam book that only seeks to put money in the hands of the scammers, not the victims. FReepers deserve an answer from you about that.
My, my. You did fill that sentence up with loaded words.
Mindbent, I am not "flacking" a "scam" book for some "scammers." I haven't even read it... yet.
There is no more money for the victims. The deep pockets have already been tapped. The TWA-800 victim's families have completed their litigation relating to TWA-800 and have received compensation (If you can be compensated for such a loss with money) from TWA and Boeing.
The true "scam" of the TWA-800 tragedy is the one the Clinton politicized NTSB foisted on the American people: the "official finding" that TWA-800 was brought down by an unknown mechanical problem that caused the fumes in the Center Wing Tank to spontaneously explode and that the numerous eyewitness who thought they saw a missile or missiles climb up, impact on an aircraft and explode, only saw that same aircraft ZOOM CLIMBING from 13,800 feet an impossible 3500 feet to more than 17,000 feet before somehow exploding in a massive fireball below 7000 feet... and doing all of this in less than 45 seconds.
Why are you flacking THAT impossible scenario to protect the political pasts and futures of the Clinton administration slimes? Freepers deserve an answer from you about that.