The rotor blades were destroyed and tail boom damaged as a result of the Messerschmitt BO 105 helicopter flipping over at Southwest Oregon Regional Airport on Wednesday.-World Photo by Jo Rafferty

NORTH BEND — It happened in about two seconds.

Ocean Air Aviation/Emergency Airlift’s maintenance crew was working on one of its new helicopters Wednesday at the Southwest Oregon Regional Airport. It was about 1:30 p.m. A pilot sat in the cockpit conducting a balance check. The rotors were spinning.

That’s when it happened.

The aircraft flipped on its side, breaking off and demolishing all four of its rotor blades and damaging the body and tail, said Ed Langerveld, the fixed-base operator’s owner and director of operations, Thursday.

No one was injured. Not the pilot, nor four or five maintenance workers nearby.

“When the maintenance man sped to full power, the helicopter went out of control and flipped over at a 90-degree angle,” Langerveld said. “We’re really happy no one was hurt, scratched, injured in any way.”

Langerveld blamed the crunch on a control rod problem.

The engine was idling and the helicopter was on the ground just outside the Ocean Air Aviation hangar when a rod, located underneath the cockpit that controls the helicopter’s blades, “popped off,” he said.

With no control rod, the pitch of the blades can change.

“If you disconnect that control rod, that’s up there seeking its own direction,” he said, pointing to the rotor head with splintered stubs where the blades had been.

The North Bend Fire Department sent two engines, an airport rescue firefighter vehicle and 21 firefighters to the scene.

“The rotors are gone,” North Bend Assistant Fire Chief Jim Brown said. “They exploded, basically, and went into shards.”

No fuel spilled onto the ground, Brown said, though some motor oil leaked out. That was collected before it could even hit the ground.

North Bend Police also responded, Langerveld said.

The helicopter’s tail boom also crumpled. A window broke and a hole was punched near the cockpit. One rotor blade also cut deep into the asphalt.

Langerveld said the $400,000 helicopter is a total loss, although some parts are salvageable and can be used for repairs on other helicopters.

“When the rotors are damaged, you have to pull the whole transmission apart,” he said.

The crash was not the pilot’s fault, Langerveld said, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration would investigate why the control rod came loose.

“Our guys didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “They didn’t do a control check because they had no intention of flying. It was a maintenance incident; nothing else.”

Langerveld would not release the name of the pilot, but said, “He went home. He feels really bad.”

He said, in the five years he’s owned the 24-hour-a-day emergency and non-emergency ambulance service, he’s never experienced an incident like this.

“In the 30 years I’ve been flying, there have been no injuries or accidents,” he said.

Langerveld recently purchased three Messerschmitt BO 105 helicopters.

Last week, the FAA conducted certification check rides on Ocean Air’s two helicopters.

Langerveld was scheduled to pick up the last helicopter today, but said he now will have to purchase two of them.

He didn’t know if his insurance would cover an additional helicopter, but the company needs three helicopters before Monday when it is scheduled to become part of his fleet, which includes several other types of aircraft.

“The helicopter division is the newest arm of Emergency Airlift,” Langerveld said. “We’re still sticking to that schedule.

“This is a good, solid, safe program. It had nothing to do with our pilots, our training program and safety program.”