Had Been Flying From Odessa, FL To Orlando When The Plane Went Down

The pilot of an amphibious Cessna 206 was fatally injured Friday when the plane "nose dived" according to witnesses and impacted terrain in the back yard of a home in Spring Hill.

The pilot, identified as Gary Cohen of Odessa, FL, had reportedly been in a dispute with his neighbors about his airplane. Cohen lived on Lake Keystone, and the Orlando Sentinel reports that Cohen had filed a lawsuit against his homeowners association, of which he was a former board member, saying that the association was prompting some of the other residents of the neighborhood to file erroneous complaints about his flying the seaplane on and off the lake. The lawsuit says that despite having a clean record as a airman, the neighbors said he flew too low and might crash.

The plane went down after apparently suffering some kind of engine problem. Kristie Young, a resident of the neighborhood where the airplane went down, said she heard the plane's engine "cycling off and on for about 10 seconds" before it failed completely. No one on the ground was injured.

Cohen has reportedly had at least one run-in with the law in the past. The paper reports that the Hillsborough County (FL) sheriff went to his home after he reportedly snorted cocaine and said to his girlfriend that he no longer wanted to live. He then barricaded himself in a closet with a handgun. A sheriff's report says they found bullet holes in the walls and shell casings on the ground.

Cohen had been taken into custody under the Baker Act, which allows authorities to require a mental evaluation for a person they feel is a danger to themselves or other.

(Image from file. Not accident airplane)

FMI: www.hcso.tampa.fl.us