The NTSB has written off the eyewitness reports of over 100 people who saw a streak from the surface intersect with Flight 800 causing a massive fireball and immediate decent into the ocean below.  They did this by claiming that these eyewitnesses saw, not a missile, but the "burning aircraft in various stages of crippled flight" ascending another 3000 ft after the initial explosion in the center wing tank.  They called this a "Zoom Climb"

Notwithstanding the physical impossibility of this Zoom Climb after the aircraft lost 1/3 of its fuselage, the evidence from the crew of the Adak proves that this Zoom Climb did not happen. They reported spotting the Tail Section of the aircraft in the early debris field (red zone).  In order for a zoom climb to have occurred, the tail would have to be intact until it reached the green zone where the rest of the fuselage was located, over 1 mile away.  If the report from the Adak is true, then the zoom climb never happened and the eyewitnesses must have seen something else streaking up to strike Flight 800.

First let us look at the Adak's position prior to the crash.  The NTSB claims the Adak was 5.4 nm from the crash site.  The Adak reported spotting the crash at 8:39 pm and reported arriving on the scene at 9:09 pm.  With the Adak's cruising speed of 30 knots, it should have arrived in 5 minutes but it took 30 minutes to arrive on scene.  On the other hand, the Adak's crew reported that they were 15nm away at the time of the crash and took off at 30 knots to reach the crash site.  As soon as they arrived at the debris field they spotted the tail section.  3 of the 6 crew members interviewed by the FBI reported seeing the Tail Section when they arrived on the scene.  A graphic of the radar at 8:47pm shows the Adak on the way to the crash site.

The Adak's report of finding the tail section in the early debris field is backed up by the report by Captain Adams of the fishing vessel B.J. O’Neil when he was interviewed by CDR Donaldson.  Excerpts from the Interim Report. A presentation graphic from CDR Donaldson's press conference on July 17, 1998 shows the location of Captain Adams and the other debris field locations.

Pat Milton's book, In the Blink of an Eye, describes the scene and the location of the tail section as being in the Red Zone which is in stark contrast to the NTSB's position that it was intact until it crashed in the Green Zone.

Radar data released by the NTSB under FIOA reveals the track of the Adak as it approached the debris field.  It entered the debris field in the Red Zone and headed west, away from the Green Zone, therefore it could only have seen the Tail Section in the Red Zone.  The Red Zone is the area where the Nose Section landed and for the tail to be in the same vicinity it had to have come off at the same time as the nose.  This graphic shows that the Adak was not anywhere near the Green Zone.

Finally, Captain McClaine, in a commercial airliner was heading southwest at about 17,000 ft. when he saw Flight 800 explode and immediately descend into the ocean.  Captain McClaine was 3,000 feet higher that Flight 800 at the time it exploded and if Flight 800 had climbed 3,000 feet as postulated by the NTSB's Zoom Climb theory, Capt. McClaine could hardly have missed such an amazing feat.  Yet he reported it exploding and directly falling into the ocean.  In his written statement he said " the other aircraft exploded into a large ball of flames.  Almost immediately two flaming objects, with flames trailing almost 4000 ft behind them, fell out of the ball of flame."

Conclusion:  Without a tail section, the aircraft could not have climbed 3,000 ft. trailing burning fuel.  Captain McClaine testified that it went straight down into the ocean.  So, if the aircraft did not climb 3,000 ft., what did the 100 eyewitnesses, who saw a "rocket like" object streak from the surface to the point where Flight 800 exploded, see?

A reasonable person would have to conclude it was a missile.