Viagra Role Eyed in Plane Crash
Tuesday November 24 8:42 AM ET
EDGEWATER, Md. (AP) - Federal authorities are looking into whether the impotence drug Viagra caused the plane crash that killed actor William Gardner Knight by impairing his vision.
It's the first such investigation into whether Viagra played a role in a plane crash, said Kathryn Creedy, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman.
Knight, 56, was killed Saturday when his light plane crashed in Maryland. Investigators have asked the state medical examiner to determine whether he was using Viagra, but declined to comment about why the request was made.
''Viagra affects pilots' color vision, possibly impairing their ability to distinguish between blue and green. These colors are used extensively in airport lighting and cockpit instrumentation,'' Creedy
said.
Last month, the FAA recommended that pilots avoid taking the drug within six hours of flying because its side effects can include difficulty in distinguishing certain colors.
Pamela Gemmel, a spokeswoman for Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company that makes Viagra, said that during testing on men, 3 percent reported ''visual disturbances'' that ranged from sensitivity to light to seeing a bluish-green haze.
Knight, who appeared in films including ''Wall Street'' and ''Born on the Fourth of July,'' left Delray Beach, Fla., on Saturday morning and made two stops before trying to land at Lee Airport in Edgewater about 5:30 p.m.
The engine appeared to have been stopped before the plane hit the water, said Larry Walker, who is heading the investigation for the Anne Arundel County Police.
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