Throwing coins into wells, fountains, or different water bodies is considered to be lucky by a lot of people across the world. It’s a very popular superstition, a tad bit impractical, but harmless nevertheless.
But do you know when does the same thing become harmful? When you throw a coin into an airplane engine wishing for “luck”.
That’s not how it’s done. But this Chinese man thought otherwise.
Security personnel found two 1 yuan coins near the left engine of Lucky Air flight 8L9960, part of Hainan Airlines group.
Upon interrogation, one 28-year-old male passenger surnamed Lu admitted having thrown the coins inside the plane engine, wishing “good luck” for a safe flight.
THE CONVERSE WAS PROBABLY TRUE: Lucky Air to sue man who tossed coins at jet's engine for good luck https://t.co/5oI7Ju7zpp pic.twitter.com/RPSFjBCCDr
— AsiaOne (@asiaonecom) February 26, 2019
The flight, which carried 162 passengers, was cancelled at Anqing Tianzhushan Airport in Anhui province afterwards.
“The incident caused a direct economic loss of nearly 140,000 yuan (14.8 Lacs INR), and our company will press charges against the passenger in accordance with the law”, the airline authorities said.
(Un)Lucky Air flight 8L9960 cancelled as passenger throws “good fortune” coins into aircraft’s engine https://t.co/JpynmjOX1e pic.twitter.com/W6W7E1toTC
— Aviation24.be (@aviation24_be) February 25, 2019
According to engineers, an aircraft engine can be severely damaged if a coin is sucked into the rapidly spinning turbine. There are high chances that the engine might fail, leading to serious safety hazards if the plane.
It’s not the first time a passenger has attempted to toss coins into an aircraft engine for good luck.
Similar such cases with the same airlines have been reported in the past.
Back in 2017, one Luck Air flight was cancelled after a 76-year-old woman threw coins at the engine for “good luck” during boarding. Sources reveal that she was taken into custody, but it was not clear whether any charges were pressed.
Humans tend to do a lot of things for luck. Not take a shower, wear the same undies for a month, not cutting nails on a Thursday, relish the moment when a crow poops on the head in the name of good luck – we are the real boss when it comes to bizarre things.
But some things don’t work, throwing coins inside airplane engines for example!