MADISON, Wis. --

The tragic deaths of the University of Wisconsin Med Flight crew members this weekend has shocked and saddened members of Madison's entire medical community -- a group that considers itself a tight-knit family.

The three victims -- Dr. Darren Bean, a physician, Mark Coyne, a registered nurse, and Steve Lipperer, the pilot -- were killed when the Med Flight helicopter crashed on Saturday night on a return trip from La Crosse. The three victims all lived in Madison

"This is a tremendous loss to our staff but also to the family and friends of those who died today," said Donna Katen-Bahensky, UW Hospital CEO in a Sunday morning news conference.

She offered prayers to the victims' families.

Bean was a Med Flight doctor for UW Hospital since 2002. After becoming Madison's Fire Rescue medical director, he appeared on WISC-TV several times to talk about the importance of CCR training, a CPR-like technique.

"His passion at the moment was CCR and teaching people how to revive victims of heart attacks and keep them alive. He was very excited about that work," said Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz.

Cieslewicz attended the news conference and expressed his condolences to the victims' loved ones. Bean had recently appeared on the mayor's cable show.

Besides his Med Flight duties, Bean was also an assistant professor at UW's School of Medicine.

Mark Coyne was a registered nurse for Med Flight for 22 years and had worked at UW for 27 years.

"I've known Mark for at least 20 years. He's an excellent nurse. He has a very strong emergency medical systems background," said Mark Hanson, director of UW Med Flight operations.

Coyne was also an EMT and taught at Madison Area Technical College (MATC).

The third victim, Med Flight pilot Steve Lipperer, was at UW Hospital for eight years. He was employed by Air Methods of Denver, the company that leases the hospital's aircraft.

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk said that the three victims dutifully served the public for years.

"Their careers, their whole lives have been dedicated to making all the rest of us safer. Decades of getting up late at night or early in the morning to go do their jobs so we could all be safer," she said. "We owe them a profound, profound gratitude and sympathy to them and to their families."

Gov. Jim Doyle's office issued a statement expressing sorrow for the victims.