UW Med Flight crew dies in crash

Madison fire chief mourns loss of medical director
Tamira Madsen and Steve Elbow — 5/11/2008 5:19 pm

Three people died late Saturday night as a UW Med Flight helicopter crashed near La Crosse, UW Hospital officials confirmed, prompting a temporary shutdown of the Med Flight program.

Dr. Darren Bean, nurse Mark Coyne and pilot Steve Lipperer were killed in the crash. Bean, who joined UW Hospitals as a Med Flight surgeon in 2002, was the Madison Fire Department's medical director.

"It's just terrible. It's such a loss for us," said Madison Fire Chief Debra Amesqua, who learned of the helicopter's disappearance at about 4 a.m. "He was just such an emotional and energetic powerhouse, and it was just so infectious."

The helicopter departed at about 10:30 p.m. for Madison after dropping off a patient to be admitted to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse. Med Flight officials were not successful in attempts to contact the pilot through radio communications, and the initial search began 30 minutes later.

In a statement, UW Hospital officials said, "the aircraft may have flown into a hill and/or struck some trees." Mark Hanson, the director of UW's Med Flight program, said the area was wooded. This is the first crash for the program in its 22 years of operation.

In the statement, hospital officials said, "Following standard protocol, the second Med Flight helicopter has been taken out of service." They wouldn't comment on the cause of the crash, although they said no radio communication was received after the helicopter took off.

A large-scale search effort was initiated at 11 p.m. Saturday, but the search was hampered because of weather conditions, precluding an air search. The search was conducted by foot and road vehicle.

The crash site was discovered by firefighters on foot at about 8:40 a.m. four miles east of the La Crosse Airport, near Keil Coulee Road in the town of Medary. The FAA is investigating the crash. Hanson said the Med Flight program would be grounded pending FAA clearance.

Hanson said Lipperer started his shift at 7 p.m. Saturday and had flown to the La Crosse area on previous trips. The Med Flight program typically averages three to four flights per day, and the average distance in transporting a patient is 55 miles, according to Hanson.

UW's medical helicopters were operated by CJ Systems Aviation Group of Pittsburgh, Pa., until October of last year, when it was bought out by Air Methods Corp. of Denver, the world's largest air ambulance operator, according to the company's Web site. No one at the company was available for comment today.

In 2005 the UW Med Flight program celebrated its 20th year in service and currently has 22 doctors and 10 nurses assigned to its staff. The downed helicopter is one of two the program uses.

Last year it adopted two new Eurocopter EC 135 air rescue aircrafts, leased from Air Methods, to replace two Italian models that had been used for a decade. The aircraft involved in Saturday's crash had been used by the Med Flight program since August 2007, and the second that was grounded has been used since October 2007.

At the time of its 20th anniversary, the program had transported more than 20,000 patients, according to published news accounts from the time.

Bean, the Madison Fire Department's medical director since January 2007, leaves a big hole at the Fire Department, spokeswoman Lori Wirth said.

"He was so full of life, it's really, really difficult to wrap your head around the fact that he's gone," she said. "He did so much. It was unbelievable," she said. "He taught, he was an ER doctor, he worked for us, and he was a Med Flight surgeon." She described him as a "very involved father" to his two young children, a boy and a girl.

Coyne had been a nurse for over 20 years, while Lipperer, an employee of Air Methods, had 10 years of experience working as a pilot.

Gov. Jim Doyle today issued a statement saying: "Dr. Darren Bean, Mark Coyne and Steve Lipperer dedicated themselves to rescuing people who faced the longest odds, and we owe them tremendous gratitude for their extraordinary service and dedication. I pray for them, their families and all the others who love them."

Meanwhile, Hospital Chief Executive Officer Donna Katen-Bahensky said officials will bring in social workers to help the survivors' families and members of the hospital staff deal with the tragedy.

"I think it goes without saying that UW Health is very much like a family," Katen-Bahensky said. "The staff are very much connected to each other, and this is a tremendous loss to our staff, but also to the families and friends of those who died.

"We're going to take good care of each other."

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/285807

what a terrible loss.

Four miles east of La Crosse Airport isn't exactly in the middle of no where. I can't believe no one in the neighborhood heard it or saw it even at 11pm.

that's so sad. When my mom was in and out of UW Madison over the years leading to her death, she often had a room that overlooked the old med flight helicopter pad. It always brought me to tears when a helicopter would take off or land, knowing that yet another family would be facing some horrible news about a car accident or other tragedy. I'm just so sorry that these dedicated people and their families have suffered this loss. I wish I could express my appreciation to them. :cry:

According to the news I just heard, people in the area did hear an explosion. The site was eventually tracked down by the signals from their cell phones. Crash site was in Onalaska.

Years ago I worked at University of Chicago medical center when the medical copter crashed on the roof upon takeoff. Fortunately the patient had already been taken off. It landed back on the roof on its side, and all the fuel spilled on the roof- which was above 6 floors of patients. The whole section had to be evacuated during the cleanup. (The pilot got out right away- nobody was hurt.) Then they stopped using the roof for a while - taking off and landing on a hospital roof in a dense urban area is dangerous.

The helicopter departed at about 10:30 p.m. for Madison after dropping off a patient to be admitted to Gundersen Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse. Med Flight officials were not successful in attempts to contact the pilot through radio communications, and the initial search began 30 minutes later.

In a statement, UW Hospital officials said, "the aircraft may have flown into a hill and/or struck some trees."

Mark Hanson, the director of UW's Med Flight program, said the area was wooded.

In the statement, hospital officials said, "Following standard protocol, the second Med Flight helicopter has been taken out of service."

They wouldn't comment on the cause of the crash, although they said no radio communication was received after the helicopter took off.

Craig Yale, vice president of corporate development for Air Methods, said using night vision goggles would be an asset for helicopter pilots, and the company has a commitment to outfit all 350 aircraft it owns with goggles, and make the necessary modifications to the aircraft, over a five-year period.

"We want to get them into all of our aircraft but the logistics of taking aircraft out of service to outfit them with the equipment takes time," he said.

Yale said the company is two years into the five year night vision goggle plan.

Another problem is availability of night vision goggles.

"The availability is real low, because most of the goggles are going to Afghanistan and Iraq," Yale said. "Everybody is trying to get them as quickly as they can."

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/285807

down within a year of the last tragedy. The medical flight with a transplant organ on board flying over lake Michigan by art museum in Milwaukee went down. I don't recall if they came up with a reason for the crash, but a hand full of doctors were lost on that day too.