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The National Transportation Safety Board report is a narrative of factual information that mostly includes details already released about the May 10 UW Hospital Med Flight crash about four miles east of La Crosse that killed all three people aboard.
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Officials and investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, the La Crosse County Sheriff's Department and Eurocopter investigate Monday, May 12, 2008, the site of a UW Hospital Med Flight crash in the town of Medary. The 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. PETER THOMSON photo |
The NTSB will not speculate on what may have caused the crash until after its final report is released, which could take up to two years, said NTSB spokeswoman Bridget Serchak.
“There is no such thing as a preliminary probable cause,” she said.
Under federal law, the NTSB is required to investigate and determine the probable cause of every aviation crash in the U.S. The Federal Aviation Administration is assisting with the investigation.
According to the report, the American Eurocopter EC135 collided with trees and terrain about 10:45 p.m. about ½ mile from Keil Coulee Road in the town of Medary, Wis., killing Dr. Darren Bean, 37, nurse Mark Coyne, 53, and pilot Steve Lipperer, 39. The crew left the La Crosse Municipal Airport at 10:34 p.m. on a return flight to the UW Hospital heliport.
Investigators found tree strikes and rotor blade fragments atop the 1,160-foot ridgeline. The wreckage was found about 9 a.m. May 11 about 600 feet from the top of the east ridgeline, at an elevation of 930 feet, the report states.
The helicopter left UW Hospital at 8:38 p.m. for Prairie du Chien (Wis.) Memorial Hospital to transport a patient to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center. The patient, Mary Kricke, 86, later died after suffering bleeding in her brain. The UW Hospital helicopter picked up Kricke because Gundersen Lutheran’s Med Link helicopter was responding to a car crash in Arcadia, Wis.
The UW helicopter landed in Prairie du Chien at 9:13 p.m., left 18 minutes later and arrived at Gundersen Lutheran at 9:54 p.m., according to the report. It left the hospital at 10:09 p.m. to refuel at the La Crosse Municipal Airport.
The helicopter departed the airport at 10:34 p.m. No additional position updates were received from the aircraft, the report states.
A La Crosse airport employee who fueled the aircraft reported light rain and fair visibility when the helicopter departed in an east-southeast direction. Searchers reported fog and mist on the ridgeline.
The pilot had eight miles of visibility and was flying visually without flight guidance instruments, said NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway.
The helicopter was equipped with a global positioning system that sent departure, en route and arrival information to its operations control center in Denver according to the report. Flight progress was updated every three minutes.
At 11:04 p.m., the helicopter’s operator, Air Methods Corp., reported the helicopter missing and a search began, the report stated.
The wreckage was removed from the site and taken to the La Crosse airport for a detailed layout as part of the investigation. The aircraft did not have a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder.
Anne Jungen can be reached at (608) 791-8224 or ajungen@lacrossetribune.com.
