Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Initial report expected next week; final verdict could take months
 Officials and investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, the La Crosse County Sheriff's Department and Eurocopter investigate Monday at the site of a UW Hospital Med Flight crash in the Town of Medary. A doctor, nurse and the pilot died when the helicopter crashed Saturday night. PETER THOMSON photo |
TOWN OF MEDARY, Wis. — A preliminary report is expected next week on what caused a Madison hospital helicopter to crash late Saturday, but a final determination could take up to six months, authorities said Monday.
Investigators removed the mangled aircraft Monday from the crash site about ½-mile from Keil Coulee Road in the town of Medary. The wreckage will be taken to the La Crosse Municipal Airport for a detailed layout and examination today or Wednesday, said National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tim Sorensen.
“We’ll be looking at the engine, control systems, all the systems on the helicopter ... ” he said. “We’ll be looking at records, we’ll be looking at weather … everything that might have affected the operation of the flight.”
The UW Hospital Med Flight helicopter crashed shortly after refueling at the La Crosse airport about 10:45 p.m. Saturday, killing Dr. Darren Bean, 37; nurse Mark Coyne, 53; and pilot Steve Lipperer, 39.
No one saw the helicopter go down. Firefighters found the wreckage on a wooded hillside about 8:30 a.m. Sunday.
An autopsy done Monday at the Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office in Hastings, Minn., concluded Lipperer died from blunt force trauma, said La Crosse County Sheriff Steve Helgeson. Results from toxicology tests are expected to take several weeks.
The bodies of Bean and Coyne have been released to a La Crosse funeral home, Helgeson said.
The American Eurocopter EC135 was on a return flight to the UW Hospital after transporting a patient from Prairie du Chien, Wis., to Gundersen Luther Medical Center. State and federal medical privacy laws prohibit the release of specific information on the patient they transported or circumstances of the emergency, said UW Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette.
The NTSB is leading the investigation with the assistance of four Federal Aviation Administration investigators. Crews on Monday surveyed the crash site and documented where the debris landed. The aircraft appears to have hit the hilltop, Sorensen said.
He declined to speculate on what might have caused the helicopter to crash.
The aircraft did not have a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder, but an instrument that captures the engine perimeter will be examined, Sorensen said.
“We will be attempting to download that, but that’s all that might be available,” he said.
Federal standards do not require medical helicopters to keep a “black box” on board, said Craig Yale, vice president of Corporate Development for Air Methods, a Denver-based company that leased the helicopter last year.
The helicopter had a communication device on board that regularly sends an electronic signal to the UW Hospital dispatch center and Air Methods, said Onalaska Fire Chief Don Dominick. The last signal was at 10:45 p.m., when the aircraft was beginning its flight to Madison, he said.
Sorensen said the helicopter may not have been on a FAA radar because of its altitude, though that still is being investigated as well.
The La Crosse airport tower was closed at the time, so there was no communication between the aircraft and air traffic controllers.
Yale said pilots in the operational control center in Denver track the company’s fleet of helicopters by satellite and global positioning systems. When the Madison hospital did not receive an electronic signal and update from the crew after takeoff, hospital dispatchers called the airport and the Denver center, plus made other attempts to communicate with the flight crew, Yale said.
When no one was able to locate the aircraft, local authorities were contacted and the search started for the craft.
NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said the crash was the first since the university hospital system began operating the air flight program in 1985.
The loss of the crew devastated the Madison medical community. The university system’s other helicopter remained grounded Monday, and Med Flight program manager Mark Hanson said regional hospitals would handle calls for service until the staff was emotionally ready to resume flights.
Donations and condolences from throughout the world have poured in to a UW Health Web site set up in tribute to the crew, hospital spokeswoman Toni Morrissey said. Hospital workers observed a moment of silence Monday afternoon to reflect on the loss and were considering how to honor their colleagues permanently.
“We’ve lost three brothers,” Hanson said. “Young, promising professionals that had a lot to offer, that still have a lot to offer. It’s very hard.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story. Autumn Grooms can be reached at (608) 791-8424 or agrooms@lacrossetribune.com. Anne Jungen can be reached at (608) 791-8224 or ajungen@lacrossetribune.com.
Video from the Med Flight crash news conference with a NTSB representative Monday afternoon:
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