Harbinger of 'good luck'? Passenger throws coins into plane engine, delays flight by over four hours

A flight in China suffered a delay on Wednesday by more than four hours after a passenger reportedly threw coins into the aircraft's engine, according to a CNN report.

Bound for Beijing from the Chinese city of Sanya at around 10 am local time on March 6, China Southern Airlines flight CZ8805 did not take off until around 2:16 pm local time, the publication reported, citing flight-tracking websites Flightradar24 and Flight Aware.

A video of the incident was also reportedly shared by multiple media outlets, wherein a flight attendant is seen questioning a passenger believed to have thrown the coins, asking them how many coins were thrown into the engine. The passenger reportedly says “three to five” coins. DH could not independently verify the details of the video.

Subsequently, the passenger accused of throwing the coins was taken away by airport police, the report adds.

The airline later confirmed that coins were discovered during security checks but did not specify the exact number that were found.

“The aircraft maintenance staff conducted a comprehensive safety inspection and determined that there were no safety issues before takeoff,” CNN cited the airline’s customer service as telling state media.

Later, the airline took to their Chinese social media account Weibo to warn against “uncivilized behaviors”, adding, “throwing coins at the plane pose a threat to aviation safety and will result in different levels of punishment", the report further said. The post, however, refrained from talking about this particular incident.

Such incidents are not unfamiliar in the country, as in the past as well some people had thrown coins at planes considering it the harbinger of “good luck".