A 140–foot blade malfunctioned and broke away from a wind turbine Wednesday morning. The blade then plummeted 300 feet into a cornfield.

Richard Schertz was battling a cold Wednesday morning when he heard a thunderous noise. A few hours later, he realized what happened.

Schertz who is a farm trustee says had it not been for a bad cold, he would have been harvesting his cornfields.

Around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, he heard a loud crash, and was astonished at what he discovered during an afternoon trip to the mailbox.

"I stepped out the door and I heard a noise...and it was kinda cloudy and I thought it was thunder...but I never heard thunder that loud.
So then I come out to get the mail soon after that...and I walked back, and hey! That blade's gone," said Schertz.

The 140–foot blade that oscillates at 100 miles per hour hurt no one and landed in Schertz' cornfield a quarter mile from his home. Although the malfunction could have been deadly, the farmer, who supports wind energy, does not regret having four turbines on his property.

"I'm for it, some people would be pretty mad about this, but I'm not because it's gonna be fixed, and I don't have to pay for it," said Schertz.

Surveyors from the turbine's manufacturer, Sulzon Wind Energy arrived shortly after to survey the damage. The four wind turbines on Schertz' property is part of the AgriWind facility in Central Bureau County.

India-based Suzlon Energy Limited says its blades can develop cracks because of a design flaw. The company says it's fixing some 400 blades that could have similar problems.