China flight cancelled after man throws coins into plane engine for good luck

Culprit was detained by police

The coins were wrapped in red paper (Weibo)

A flight in China was cancelled after a passenger threw coins in the aircraft engine to bring good fortune.

The plane was scheduled to fly 148 passengers from Weifang in Shandong province to Haikou on the holiday island of Hainan when the man, identified only as Wang, tossed in the coins, wrapped in red paper.

Runway workers spotted some of the coins on the tarmac before Beibu Gulf Airlines flight GX8814 took off, alerting crew of the danger.

Putting coins in a jet’s engine poses a threat to the entire flight, as they can damage the engine.

The entire flight was deplaned and postponed until the next day, while the man was detained by police, according to an airline statement shared on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

The man admitted to throwing a handful of coins at the plane, according to Times Now Digital.

All six coins were recovered.

It’s far from the first time a passenger in China has been discovered throwing coins into a plane engine before a flight for good luck.

In January 2020, a first-time flier who threw coins into a plane engine for good luck was ordered to pay £13,000 to a Chinese airline.

Twenty-eight-year-old Lu Chao threw the coins to wish for a safe journey as he was boarding a Lucky Air flight from Anqing to Kunming in February 2019.

He admitted to tossing the coins when Lucky Air staff quizzed passengers after finding two one yuan coins on the ground near the left engine.

The domestic flight was grounded due to safety concerns, and the 162 passengers were flown the next day following a full engine check.

The budget carrier claimed the flight cancellation cost in the region of 140,000 yuan (£16,000), and announced legal action would be taken against the passenger.

And in March 2019, two passengers were also detained for throwing coins at a plane for good luck.

The two women were boarding a Lucky Air flight from Jinan in China's Shandong province to Chengdu in Sichuan when they threw the coins.

Flight 8L9616 was delayed by two hours while crew checked the aircraft engine for the coins.