80-year-old woman tried to wish a plane good luck by tossing coins and ended up grounding it
Published on Oct 04, 2025 at 1:29 PM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Oct 02, 2025 at 1:53 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
In 2017, an 80-year-old woman caused delay and confusion after she was caught tossing coins into a plane engine for good luck.
The incident occurred at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, and passengers noticed her very unusual behaviour.
In the end, it only took one coin to delay the flight for hours, causing a lot of grief for the passengers and crew of the China Southern Airlines flight.
Various news outlets, such as the BBC, picked up on the tossing coins story in what was a truly bizarre incident.
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How many coins did the woman throw into the aircraft?
According to news reports, the woman threw nine coins into the plane, although only one of them reached the intended target.
She had been jolting to get them into the engine, apparently for good luck, but instead, she caused carnage.
The coins, which totalled $0.25 in value at the time, landed in the intake of the engine with one going into it.
Because of this, the ground crew had to dismantle the engine and thoroughly inspect the aircraft.
That meant 150 passengers, including the crew, had to disembark from the plane and walk back to the terminal.
In the end, the whole situation caused over five hours’ worth of delays.
It caused severe disruption for those who had been scheduled to take the flight.
The police were eventually called to the airport following the coin-throwing.
What happened to the 80-year-old woman who was tossing coins?
Following the incident, the woman was taken away by the police for questioning.
Local media reported that while questioned, she was not charged with the incident.
It was her behaviour before throwing the coins that alerted passengers to what she was doing.
Images also emerged on Twitter (now known as X) of engineers looking at the affected engine.
China Southern Flight 380 was delayed at Shanghai Pudong Int'l Airport on Tues after an elderly woman threw coins into the engine for luck.. pic.twitter.com/wSSWJg9bcE
— Flight (@flightorg) June 27, 2017
Following the incident, China Southern Airlines released a statement.
They said passengers should comply with civil aviation laws and avoid the kind of behaviour shown by the 80-year-old woman.
Some amusing comments emerged on the social media site Weibo.
One of them read:
“Grandma, this is not a wish fountain with turtles.”
Thankfully, despite the delay, the flight was able to take off without further incident.
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Henry is a content writer with nearly ten years experience, having written for various publications since 2017. Qualifying with a Sports Journalism degree from Staffordshire University, Henry loves all things automotive but has a particular soft spot for classic Japanese cars and anything Lancia. He also has a curious passion for steam locomotives.
