Throwing Coins Into a Plane Engine Delays Plane
Airlines cause more delays than the weather, for reasons extending to mechanical breakdowns to lack of flight crews. But they're not responsible for everything, as a recent flight Shanghai to Guangzhou shows. According to the South China Morning Post, a woman held up a plane by tossing a coin into the engine.
Passengers boarding China Southern Airlines Flight 380 noticed that an elderly woman, around 80 and with limited mobility, was tossing coins into the engine in what appeared to be a good luck superstition. Throwing coins into holes for luck is common in several cultures, most notably at the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
But if the metal had stayed in the engine, bad luck would likely have befallen Flight 380, presumably of the "engine failure" variety. Maintenance crews checked the engines and found nine coins. Five long hours later, the flight was able to take off without a hitch.
As China's growth continues, transportation troubles rise side-by-side. This is only the latest incident of stalled travel, a legendary 2015 traffic jam showed how terrible and systemic problems there can be. While China has a travel blacklist for plane passengers who disrupt flights in this matter, at least the old woman wasn't dragged off the plane.
Source: South China Morning Post
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