Mangled pieces of metal are all that's left after Sunday's helicopter crash in La Crosse County.

Deborah Rice-Viner owns the land where it happened and says she thinks she heard the helicopter go down.

"It sounded like thunder, but I'm thinking why is it thundering because it's not raining that hard out?" she said.

"We received a call from persons who lived in this area who heard a real loud crash, and believed it was some type of an aircraft crash,” said La Crosse County Sheriff Steve Helgeson.

Onalaska Fire Chief Donald Dominick says rescue crews spent several hours scouring miles of wooded areas before they found the wreckage at 8:20 Sunday morning.

He says they also found the bodies of Dr. Darren Bean, nurse Mark Coyne and pilot Steve Lipperer.

"It's a tragedy for the community and a personal tragedy for me, but it's a deep tragedy for those who know him and loved him," said Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

UW Hospital Chief Operating Officer Margaret Van Bree says the medical helicopter left Madison around 8:30 Saturday night to drop off a patient at Gunderson Lutheran Hospital.

Dominick says the chopper left the La Crosse airport at about quarter to 11 Saturday night, after fueling up. A half an hour later, he says there was no contact with the helicopter crew.

"The last communication that we received was a software computer flight following, indicating they lifted from the La Crosse airport," said Mark Hanson, Med Flight Program Director.

Dominick says crews found the wreckage only five miles away.

"It's an area that the trees aren't real big so there was not a lot of damage like you would expect if there was a lot of trees,” he said.

Preliminary reports say it appears the helicopter may have hit a hill or some trees, but the exact cause is still unknown.

Van Bree says the helicopter that went down is less than a year old.

A second med flight helicopter, leased by the UW Hospital, is grounded in the wake of this weekend's deadly crash.

Governor Jim Doyle released this statement in reaction to the crash: "In our moments of greatest peril, our lives depend on the courageous work of Med Flight personnel. 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."

University of Wisconsin Hospital says the surgeon killed in the crash of the medical helicopter near La Crosse became a Med Flight physician for the hospital system in 2002.

It says Darren Bean received his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine in 1999, and completed residency training at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bean also was the emergency department director of ultrasound, and an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Nurse Mark Coyne was a 22-year veteran of the Med Flight system and had worked for the hospital since 1981. He also was an emergency medical technician-paramedic.

Pilot Steve Lipperer worked for Air Methods and was a contract employee for the hospital system.

All three lived in Madison.