Woman tosses coins into an airplane engine for good luck

On Wednesday this week a flight was delayed for four or five hours because of a woman who did what she thought was right based on her superstition - she threw a fistful of coins at the airplane engine for good luck.

The 80-year old woman was detained by the police who later said in a statement that "The passenger, surnamed Qiu, who has no prior criminal record or mental health issues, claimed she tossed coins as a prayer for a safe flight." The woman allegedly has no mental illness, nor criminal record, and because of her age she was not jailed.

The Airbus A320 flight CZ380, operated by China Southern Airlines, was bound for Guangzhou and the incident took place in Shanghai's Pudong International Airport.

Some 150 passengers were evacuated from the plane to give the police and the maintenance crew time to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the engine. While most of the coins thrown at the engine missed it, one coin was found from inside the engine.

While the total amount of coins found totalled just around 25 U.S. cents, the cost of delay and inspection of the engine is estimated at $140,000.

"If nobody had reported someone throwing coins into the engine, the consequences could have been unthinkable," a senior flight mechanic.

So in comparison, I guess what she did could be compared to tossing a lit up zippo into a car's gas tank.

On a side note, doesn't this again show that people's beliefs, independent of how much they believe in them, are not necessarily right. But instead might cause mayhem. This time, of course, the situation ended on a good note. People saw her throwing the coins and possibly because of that no accident was caused.