TWA 800 conspiracy theories abound. Was it fast boats with MANPADS? (Skeptics claim that TWA 800 was too high for any known MANPAD to reach.) Was it a Navy SM-1 training missile with no warhead? (Skeptics claim that it would have been impossible to keep hundreds of sailors quiet for this long.)
Like the Kennedy Grassy Knoll second shooter theory, TWA 800 will forever be steeped in controversy and mystery, and the ultimate truth will never be known.
I believe one thing is certain, that it wasn’t the Fuel tanks.
And the next airplane in the flight pattern was an El Al flight.
Just sayin’...during my long career in the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club, I participated in more than a few “tracking exercises” using commercial jets as targets. We never loaded a rail, even by accident, but the possibility was always there.