Airline Passenger Threw 'Good Luck' Coins Into Plane Engine, Sued

A Chinese airline said Friday it was suing a passenger for throwing coins into a plane engine, which resulted in the cancellation of the flight. The incident took place on a Lucky Air flight scheduled to fly from Anqing to Kunming on Feb.17.

The passenger, identified by his surname Lu, tossed coins at the jetliner's engine for good luck, causing the flight to be grounded overnight.

The incident came to light after the ground staff found two 1 yuan coins near the left engine of the plane during the preflight check. Upon questioning by the airline staff, Lu, who was traveling with his wife and one-year-old child, admitted to tossing the coins in hope of a safe journey. He was detained for seven days.

As a safety precaution, the flight was grounded overnight and the engine was thoroughly checked. The remaining passengers flew to Kunming the following day.

In a statement issued Friday, the airline said the incident led to the cancellation of the flight and caused great inconvenience to the passengers.

"The incident caused a direct economic loss of nearly 140,000 yuan ($20,909), and our company will press charges against the passenger in accordance with the law," the airline said in a statement, the Travel Pulse reported.

"Not only does tossing coins not give you good luck it will endanger aviation safety and land you in detention. You could be fined and prosecuted,” the airline added.

Speaking to China.org, Ouyang Jie, a professor at the Civil Aviation University of China, said the engine could be destroyed if the coin would have entered it during flight.

"The engine could tremble, lose speed and even stop in midair if a coin were sucked into its core. That would put all the passengers on board at great risk,” he said. "We have seen air travelers create other safety problems in recent years, including opening emergency doors and assaulting cabin crew. It's necessary to put the wrongdoers on a black list and ban them from air travel.”

This is not the first time a passenger has thrown coins into engine for good luck.

In June 2017, an 80-year-old woman threw nine coins into the engine of a China Southern Airline plane at Shanghai's Pudong airport, resulting in the flight being grounded for nearly six hours and causing a million yuan in damage. Though the woman was detained for questioning, she was not charged because of her age.