Was Flight 188 a Psy-Op or Readiness Exercise?

Certainly the story doesn't add up and it makes no sense that fighters weren't scrambled if controllers had lost contact with the plane for over an hour. I'm surprised I haven't seen more on this story from conspiracists, but I suppose the info is too limited for now. Whatever, the case, the story is bizarre-- though we've had our fill of bizarre stories in the past few years.