An elderly woman delayed a flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou after throwing coins into the plane’s engine for “good luck”
China Southern Airlines Flight 380 was delayed and held at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport after a woman disrupted the process, according to the airline’s official WeChat account. Investigations are currently under way to find out exactly what happened.
Passengers who were boarding the flight reported that they saw an elderly woman throwing coins towards the engine, saying it was for “blessings”. Passengers were on the middle of the boarding staircase when they saw the woman, and immediately alerted the crew.
The crew immediately stopped the woman and called the maintenance crew to inspect the aircraft. After thorough investigations, the team found nine coins in a single engine.
The captain said that if metal is being sucked up by the engine, severe damages, including failure, can happen.
After making sure that all the coins are taken out of the engine and that everything is safe and back to normal, the flight was given a green light and took off 5 hours later.
After the incident, the passengers were reminded that they need to comply and obey to the civil aviation laws and regulations, which forbid any behavior that could possibly jeopardize the safety of the flight.
Air travelers have been responsible for several safety incidents during recent years, including opening emergency doors and assaulting cabin crew. Therefore, Beijing created a tourist black list, with offenders banned from getting on a plane because of their actions.
