Originally Posted by Matt 26z

This was the internet's first big conspiracy theory. Things boiled over when eyewitnesses reported a streak of light traveling from the ground up to the plane and the government stated they were mistaken and that it was burning fuel.

Also of concern was involvement by arms of the government not typically involved in commercial airline crashes. The NTSB had little to do with the investigation at first. The Pentagon was doing everything.

The leading theory at the time was that an Aegis missile was fired from a nearby destroyer and inadvertently hit the plane.