Entrepreneur turned celebrity, Dr Geoffrey Eddelston, is lucky to be alive today after walking away from a horrific helicopter accident.

The 66 year-old was embarking on his first ever solo flight when the incident occurred at Melbourne’s Moorabbin Airport about 10.15am yesterday.

An experienced winged pilot, Dr Eddelston had spent the past month learning the craft of flying helicopters.

However, his first light barely lasted a minute before it all went horribly wrong.

The chopper lifted into the air, then tilted to its right, before thumping into the ground where the rotor blades disintegrated into pieces.

Dr Eddelston, who walked away with only a few minor scratches, bruises, and a sore knee, was lucky to be alive, and so too the bystanders at the scene who avoided being hit by the splintering rotor.

Despite the life-scaring event, Dr Eddelston said he is not prepared to let the accident prevent him from taking part in one of his favourite hobbies.

“I enjoy it so much I think in a couple of weeks I’ll be saying: ‘Let’s go again’. I’m glad that no one was injured and sometimes mechanical things happen and I’ll be grateful to learn exactly what went wrong,” he said.

“It was all so quick, just taking off and it rolled over and hit the ground.

“I was upside down and all I could see was broken glass above me and the instructor pulled me out and I was fine.”

And for wife Brynne Gordon, well she knows her husband too well.

“He’ll be out there whether I like it or not,” she said.