Reply #17: The original FRONTLINE report may have been closer to what happened. I exchanged

[leveymg]

correspondence with the FRONTLINE Producer, but we never had a meeting of the minds on this. I also obtained a copy of the local newspaper account of the ultralight into the high tension wire accident, and it does not name bin Laden as the victim.

I put this to bed a long time ago. I don't think we'll ever find out how Salem bin Laden actually died, but it was NOT in the NTSB data base of air accidents that occurred in the United States during the period 1985-1990. Not when I went down to the NTSB archives and checked them in late September 2001.

I checked the entire NTSB database -- and cross-checked it by names and aircraft types -- and there is an incident report that has some uncanny similarities to the mythical account about the alleged ultralight accident involving Salem bin Laden which has been reported, but the pilot was not Salem bin Laden (or any name even remotely similar). There was a witness, who turned out to be a local manufacturer of ultralight aircraft, with the family name, Salem.

So, I guess I would say the FRONTLINE Editor's Note is inaccurate.