When I read the headline “Flight in China delayed four hours after passenger throws coins into engine”, I joked “Oh, sure, for luck!”. The problem is that isn’t actually a joke. It turns out, yes, that’s really why people have done it:

Similar incidents of people throwing coins at planes, apparently for “good luck,” have occurred in recent years in China.

Last October, a China Southern Airlines flight was delayed in Guangzhou after a passenger was observed throwing coins towards the plane. In 2021, a GX Airlines flight between Weifang and Haikou was canceled when several coins wrapped in red paper were discovered on the ground. And in 2017, an elderly passenger threw coins at a China Southern Airlines plane during boarding at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, claiming it was “a prayer for a safe flight.”

“For good luck, I’m going to throw metal projectiles into the critical part of this flying machine”. The mind boggles.