Man Learns The Hard Way That An Airplane Is Not A Wishing Well
There’s a fountain near the entrance of the food court at SouthPark Mall into which people like to throw coins and make wishes. It’s cute when a kid runs up to the fountain with a nickel in their little hand and flings it into the water to hear that satisfying “glug.” The wish is an afterthought.
For some people, though, throwing a coin for luck is more than superstition; it’s travel insurance. A man in China ended up costing himself a lot of money because of it. Lu Chao was questioned by a Lucky Air crew after they found two one-yuan coins on the ground near the plane’s engine. The 28-year-old passenger eventually admitted that he had thrown them in the engine for good luck.
The flight had to be canceled and Lu Chao was taken into custody. A judge ruled that he is responsible for damages to the plane totaling more than $17,000. Lucky Air released a statement saying, “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.”
This isn’t the first time something like this has happened to Lucky Air. A woman threw a handful of coins into the engine of one of their planes in 2017. Apparently, the name of this airline isn’t enough to convince some people that flying with them will be safe.
A Lucky Air A319, registered B-6198, flight 8L9960 was boarding at China's Anqing Regional (15:40L) when a lady threw coins into engine... pic.twitter.com/9iv0ydhcV3
— Flight (@flightorg) October 21, 2017
So let’s review:
- Coins thrown into fountain = OK
- Coins thrown into jet engines = BAD
