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Mark Coyne, a nurse at UW Hospital since 1981, also had a pilot’s license.
Pilot Steve Lipperer, who was married to a Med Flight doctor, had flown for the transport service for eight years.
The loss of the three men in a Med Flight helicopter crash late Saturday reverberated Sunday throughout the Madison-area’s tight-knit medical community.
The aircraft crashed in the town of Medary shortly after taking off from the La Crosse airport, officials said. The crew was returning to Madison after transporting a patient to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center.
Victims’ families were brought to UW Hospital shortly after the hospital learned the copter was missing, said Adrianne Cisler, director for emergency services.
“They were here most of the night while the search and rescue was in process,” she said.
But no one knew until 8:40 a.m. that the copter had crashed.
Bean “was one of those people who have a million different things they want to do, and they’re doing them all at once,” said Dr. Paul Stiegler, medical director of Dane County’s Emergency Medical Services, who worked with Bean on improvements to the area’s emergency medical systems.
“He was bringing us to the next generation” of resuscitation techniques and heart attack responses, Stiegler said. “We are all devastated.”
Bean was married to Dr. Stacey Bean, an emergency physician at St. Mary’s Hospital. They have two young children, Caitlyn and Parker.
Coyne, who taught paramedic classes at Madison Area Technical College, loved being in the air so much he obtained his own pilot’s license, flying to destinations as far away as the Caribbean, said Melody Carlino, his first wife.
Lipperer, with Med Flight since 2000, had flown for more than 20 years, said Heather Grant, a UW Hospital nurse and friend of Pipperer and his wife, Dr. Desiree Lacharite, a Med Flight physician.
“He was a very calm, responsible guy,” Grant said. “He loved the outdoors.”
Bean had worked at UW Hospital since 2002, and Coyne had been there since 1981. Lipperer worked for Air Methods, a Denver company from which the hospital leased the helicopter.
