Summary
- China Southern Airlines flight delayed after coins tossed into engine.
- Coins pose a serious safety risk to jet engines – risking engine failure.
- Previous incidents of passengers throwing coins into engines have occurred in China.
A China Southern Airlines flight was delayed by over 4 hours on Wednesday after a passenger decided to toss just a few coins into the aircraft’s engine. It should go without saying: don’t throw coins into an aircraft’s engine. It’s an old (and mostly harmless) superstition that throwing coins right into a well is nice luck, but that thought is taken to a different level when that wishing well becomes a jet engine.
An unlucky 4-hour flight delay
The incident was reported by Chinese state media and involved China Southern Airlines flight CZ8805. Flight CZ8805 is a 3-hour and 40-minute Chinese domestic flight from Sanya (Hainan Province) to Beijing. China Southern Airlines is certainly one of the three largest Chinese airlines on the planet.
The aircraft was scheduled to take off from Sanya at 10:00 am local time on March 6. But the unfortunate passengers were forced to attend until around 2:16 pm for the lucky coins to be removed. The aircraft got the green light to take off only after aircraft maintenance staff conducted their safety inspections.
Photo: kislond | Shutterstock.com
State media reported that airport police took away the passenger. It’s unclear what (if any) charges shall be brought against the person or how much the potential positive shall be. China Southern Airlines didn’t reveal what number of coins were present in the engines.
Don’t throw coins into engines
China Southern Airlines posted on its official Weibo account that “throwing coins on the plane poses a threat to aviation safety and can result in several levels of punishment.” They warned against “uncivilized behaviors” with flying. The video goes on to point out that if throwing coins within the engine causes serious consequences, similar to an aircraft accident, the penalties could even extend to death.
While aircraft engines are designed to resist a bird strike, foreign objects pose a really serious risk to jet engines. There may be the danger that the coins could cause components of the engine to fracture – and within the worst case, it could possibly result in total engine failure.
‘Lucky’ coins in Chinese engines
This is way from the primary time passengers have tossed good-luck coins into aircraft engines to wish for a secure flight. In 2019, a Chinese airline, Lucky Air, sued an un-lucky passenger for $21,000 for throwing coins into the engine. In keeping with CNN, police took away an elderly 80-year-old woman after throwing coins into one other Chinese Southern Airlines aircraft’s engines in 2017.
![A320-200, Lucky Air](https://static1.simpleflyingimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Lucky_Air.A320-200.KMG_.2013.II_.jpg)
Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Throw Coins In An Engine
Other similar incidents of passengers throwing coins on the engines or aircraft have been reported in China in October last yr and 2021 involving Chinese Southern Airlines (again) and GX Airlines, respectively.