I was living in NYC when this happened, and one thing that disappeared from the press almost immediately was that PanAm 800 was actually not supposed to be in that slot. The plane that was supposed to fly was an El Al flight to Tel Aviv.
For some reason, the El Al flight missed its slot on the in the take-off line because it had developed a problem or because a late passenger had delayed it (I don’t remember which, but I think ultimately it left just after Pan Am 800).
So I think they were actually aiming for the El Al flight.
Very interesting...that would explain several things.