3 crew dead after medical helicopter crash

[cougarnurse]

Now this is awful: 3 crew members die as medical helicopter crashes in Wis. - Yahoo! News
MADISON, Wis. - A medical helicopter on a return flight after dropping off a patient crashed after takeoff, killing the surgeon, nurse and pilot aboard, officials said Sunday.
The University of Wisconsin Hospital Med Flight helicopter was returning to Madison on Saturday night from the Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse when it crashed, UW Hospital spokesman Aaron Conklin said.
The helicopter left Madison around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night to drop off a patient at the La Crosse hospital and departed the airport there at about 10:30 p.m., UW Hospital chief operating officer Margaret Van Bree said.
"No further communication was received from the crew," she said.
The helicopter was found about four miles from the airport around 8:40 a.m. Sunday, Van Bree said.
Preliminary reports indicate the helicopter may have struck a hill or some trees but the exact cause is not yet known, Van Bree said. Killed in the crash were surgeon Darren Bean, nurse Mark Coyne and pilot Steve Lipperer, she said.
The aircraft was an American Eurocopter EC13 leased from Air Methods within the past year, she said.
The other Med Flight helicopter that serves the university hospital system has been grounded, Conklin said.
Quite possibly the high winds we've had? Thoughts or comments?

[AmandaWIRN]

Absolutely horrible... It's been a bad couple of years for WI helicopter crews. When I was working in Green Bay a couple of years ago, our helicopter crashed, and the pilot was killed...

[katyv]

I saw the story online before seeingit here. It is terrible. We had an incident here in Indiana a few years ago. Crew was injured badly. It usually is due to weather

[kimmiejs]

Here is Australia they have The Royal Flying Doctor Service. Instead of using helicopters the RFDS uses planes, such as the Pilatus PC12s and Cessna Titan 404s. Although crashes seldom happen here with the RFDS they still occur. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family members, friends, colleagues, and citizens of Wisconsin. Any loss of life is tragic regardless of the circumstances. The loss of life, especially amongst those trying to preserve life, is devastating.