Chinese Airline To Sue Passenger Who Threw Coins Into Plane Engine 'For Good Luck'

There are some weird 'good luck' practices around these days, aren't there? You might have heard the popular phrase 'break a leg', or fondly used it to wish someone well - it might be followed up with 'not literally though'. Oh cool, thank heavens that was cleared up.

Another is the tradition of tossing coins as you make a wish. Pretty odd, isn't it? So we wonder what this guy was hoping for when he threw two 1 yuan coins into a Lucky Air plane... for the aircraft to be grounded and the flight cancelled? Probs not.

PA

Yes though, you read that right. On 17 February, a Chinese man, who was travelling with his wife and one-year-old child, lobbed two coins at a plane and is now being sued by Lucky Air.

Some might say that's actually pretty unlucky.

According to the MailOnline, flight 8L9960 from Anqing, Anhui province to Kunming, Yunnan was grounded for security reasons and eventually cancelled, affecting 162 passengers and costing the airline nearly 140,000 yuan (£15,800 / $20,900).

The 28-year-old man, identified by his surname Lu, has admitted to chucking the coins while boarding on the tarmac as he was hoping for a safe journey.

I mean, some people might give the plane a little tap as they pass through the door, be extra nice to the cabin crew, or - my personal favourite - neck as much booze as humanly possible and hope for the best. But each to their own.

Anyway, Lu ended up getting detained by authorities for a week after the coins were found on the ground near the engine as the pre-flight check took place.

In a statement, Lucky Air said: "The incident caused a direct economic loss of nearly 140,000 yuan, and our company will press charges against the passenger in accordance with the law."

Facebook/Lucky Air

Ouyang Jie, a professor at Civil Aviation University of China, told China Daily that the engine of an aircraft would be severely damaged or even destroyed by something as seemingly harmless as a coin.

The professor said: "The engine could tremble, lose speed and even stop in mid-air if a coin were sucked into its core. That would put all the passengers on board at great risk."

South China Morning Post reported that all 162 passengers had to wait until the following day to fly to their destination.

Topics: Plane, World News, Airplane, News, China

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media - which inevitably and eventually became as glum as it sounds. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a 'thing' way before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

@RJShepherd94