The China Southern Airlines flight from Sanya to Beijing turned into a tedious wait for passengers. He was detained for more than four hours due to an unusual incident: a passenger threw coins into the plane’s engine.
Representatives of China Southern Airlines, on their official account on Weibo, a popular Chinese social network, strongly condemned “such uncivilized behavior.”
According to Chinese state media, the reason for the flight delay was announced to passengers after a long wait. The footage they released shows a flight attendant interrogating a passenger. He admits that he threw “three to five coins into the engine for good luck.”
Technicians had to carefully check the plane again. The airline confirmed that coins were found in the engine, but did not specify the exact number.
The airline emphasized that throwing objects into aircraft mechanisms is very dangerous. “This poses a serious threat to aviation security and will be punished,” they emphasized.
In 2021, in China, a passenger also threw coins into the engine because he believed it would bring good luck. The flight was supposed to carry 148 passengers from Weifang to Haikou. Airport workers managed to notice this before the plane took off: they saw several coins on the runway and alerted the crew to the potential danger, which led to the cancellation of the flight.