http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5336586
Friend: Pilot became medically incapacitated

[Aug 28, 2006 05:26 PM]
"Indianapolis - Robert Edesess, a local oral surgeon who died while piloting
a small plane Monday morning, may have become medically incapacitated before
the crash. According to a family friend, Edesess may have lost consciousness
before the plane crash-landed into a retention pond.

....

According to Kehoe, Edesess, 66, may have had some sort of medical event
which rendered him unconscious. Kehoe told Eyewitness News that his wife,
Poolie, activated the plane's parachute release.

It's possible the pilot might have been already dying from his 'medical
event' (heart attack, stroke, etc ?) and not received fatal injuries
due to the hard water crash landing under the chute. The news articles
seem to be silent on that possibility.