The medical helicopter that crashed in Wisconsin did not have two pieces of safety equipment the National Transportation Safety Board has recommended to prevent nighttime crashes, a company spokesman said Monday.

Mike Allen, senior vice president at Denver-based Air Methods, said the helicopter was not equipped with a computerized voice system to warn of approaching terrain or night vision goggles for the pilot.

His company leased the helicopter to the University of Wisconsin Hospital for its Med Flight program. The aircraft crashed Saturday night after dropping off a patient at a La Crosse hospital.

FAA and NTSB Investigators say they plans to return to a wooded area in Onalaska where the wreckage from Saturday's crash was found.

Inspectors plan to reconstruct the flight to see exactly what happened.

"Right now, we don't have any idea," said FAA inspector Dennis Grimslid.

The chopper, holding UW Hospital surgeon Dr. Darren Bean, nurse Mark Coyne and pilot Steve Lipperer, had just dropped off a patient in La Crosse.

They were headed back to Madison when Flight Director Mark Hanson says they lost contact.

"We attempted to make verbal radio contact with them, subsequently, and were unsuccessful."

Heavy rain kept search efforts on the ground.

More than nine hours after the accident, the mangled chopper was found just a few miles from the airport where it took off.

"(Search and rescue crews) knew they were close, but it's kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack out here with the size of the bluffs," said Jim Keller, who lives near the crash site.

UW Hospital Feels The Loss

"It hurts, it hurts. It's difficult," said Dr. Ryan Wubben, who worked directly with the three people killed in the helicopter accident.

He called Dr. Bean a passionate advocate of health care, and said that Coyne loved flying and had been doing it for two decades.

He also knew Lipperer was a trusted pilot.

"He was a very methodical, quiet but business-like (pilot) who I would fly with tomorrow if I could."

Lipperer's wife said that it wasn't only a blow to her family to discover the loss, but to the whole community.

The Coyne family also released a statement:

"Mark was passionate about nursing and teaching. He died doing what he loved and his inspiration will live on in his family, friends, co-workers and students."

The Copter That Crashed

Lipperer was flying a new American Eurocopter EC13 that UW Hospital leased in August 2007.

Air Methods flies the helicopters, and they fly 300 of them in service. They say that 2006 brought the last crash of one of those copters.

The company states that they run two of them in Madison, and they're both checked every day. Those two were grounded in April, along with 21 others in the company, when paperwork questions arose.

Air Methods has grounded the other EC13 that UW Hospital uses, and if one is needed, other hospitals will provide the service.

Deadly Crashes Happen Often in Medical Helicopters

A recent Today's TMJ4 investigation shows that besides combat missions, medical flights are the most dangerous for people who fly helicopters.

Between 2000 and 2006, crashes occurred in 1 out of 10 helicopters used as air ambulances.

"I think it's extremely, unnecessarily dangerous," said Air Safety Investigator Christine Negroni.

"It's an overwhelming problem. It's a little known problem." It's very concerning to me that the attention has not been paid to this because the people who die, die doing something heroic. There's no question they do."

One reason could involve relaxation of FAA rules for medical helicopters. Pilots aren't required to follow rules for rest, and they don't have to follow requirements for safety equipment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.