# Airline passenger throws coin into airplane engine for good luck **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114 "2017-06-29T03:18:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/21 "2017-06-29T17:51:12Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Pretty rational thinking. Like, “I’ll test this pry bar over my knee, to see if it is rigid enough to lift that rock.” I do this with my guns. I always test to see if they’ll fire by first trying to shoot myself in the head. If I get shot, then great, the gun works and now I can use it. If I don’t get shot then I know the gun is broken and I’ll give it away to some child to use as a toy. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/22 "2017-06-29T18:38:47Z")
Perhaps she just wanted yuan for the road… ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/23 "2017-06-29T18:42:02Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I do this with my guns. I always test to see if they’ll fire by first trying to shoot myself in the head. If I get shot, then great, the gun works and now I can use it. If I don’t get shot then I know the gun is broken and I’ll give it away to some child to use as a toy. You should always put sugar in the gasoline tank of your car before a long road trip. Don’t want to drive a vehicle with a fuel system that can’t withstand clogging. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/24 "2017-06-29T18:48:24Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Actually, the magic worked. > > During the five-hour inspection of the engine to find the coin(s), mechanics discovered a flaw that would certainly have caused the engine to fail catastrophically during the flight. So throwing the coins at the engine was good luck because it avoided an emergency situation! > > I shouldn’t have to point it out, but I’m joking. 😃 You know that within a month Snopes is gonna have to write a whole page debunking this. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/25 "2017-06-29T18:50:43Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Maybe she thought “If something as trivial as tossing a coin into the engine would result in engine damage, I don’t want to fly in it. So I’ll toss a coin in to see if it holds up.” Pretty rational thinking. Like, “I’ll test this pry bar over my knee, to see if it is rigid enough to lift that rock.” This really is one of the lesser-thought-out posts I’ve read here on the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/26 "2017-06-29T20:39:35Z")
nm, ninja’d!! ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/27 "2017-06-29T21:14:51Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > It would not be unreasonable for a fairly knowledgeable layman to assume that if the coins were going to militate against the engine function, their effect would be noted before it took off, thus placing no passengers at risk of falling out of the sky. > > However, it would be statistically improbable that the plane would fly through a coin storm, so verification that the plane is coin-proof may be a stretch. > . Ah, yes, the “Pennies from Heaven” disaster. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/28 "2017-06-29T21:24:39Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Maybe she lied to the assembled reporters (or their pool reporter) about her motives. Maybe she’s an undercover airline safety inspector, or a saboteuse employed by a rival airline. Maybe she’s a heavy user of hallucinogens and thought the engine was a giant beggar’s cup. Maybe she planned to fill the entire plane with coins and then break it open with a hammer later and buy herself a Komodo dragon from an animal smuggler who only accepts coins as payment. There are far too many equally plausible explanations to list them all. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/29 "2017-06-29T21:55:09Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Coming soon to theaters everywhere: _Three Coins In The Fan Blades_. Starring Tom Hanks as the plucky and keen eyed son. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/30 "2017-06-29T22:53:52Z")
**jtur88** , you don’t have to stretch to play devil’s advocate just for the sake of being devil’s advocate. In certain situations, you can give it a rest. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/31 "2017-06-29T23:01:35Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Perhaps she just wanted yuan for the road… Well, that would have been stupid since they were avoiding roads by flying… My thought was "Not only was she pathetically stupid, but… > [@](#): > > The 80-year-old threw nine coins at an engine of China Southern Airlines flight CZ380 as she was boarding on the tarmac. Eight of the coins missed their target… …she was stupidly pathetic!" She couldn’t hit a 6ft diameter circle with a 1in diameter coin?!?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/32 "2017-06-29T23:08:20Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > Well, that would have been stupid since they were avoiding roads by flying… > > My thought was "Not only was she pathetically stupid, but… > > …she was stupidly pathetic!" > > She couldn’t hit a 6ft diameter circle with a 1in diameter coin?!?:dubious: “When 80 years old you reach… throw as good, you will not.” ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/33 "2017-06-30T00:16:30Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > It is therefore inherent in her actions that she believes in magic […] Not necessarily. Remember Niels Bohr and the horseshoe? If you don’t: Niels Bohr had a horseshoe hanging on the wall of his office. A visitor remarked that, surely, the great physicist didn’t believe that a horseshoe would bring him luck? Bohr replied: “Of course I don’t believe in it. But I’m told that it works whether you believe in it or not.” When you think about it, magic is like airplane engines. I don’t have to \*believe \*that airplane engines work. They still do, or they don’t, irregardless. ETA: IANAcoin-into-engine-thrower. That does seem stupid. I tend to limit myself to fountains. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/34 "2017-06-30T00:19:43Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > …irregardless… Ahhhhh! it burnssssses! ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/35 "2017-06-30T00:22:02Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Ahhhhh! it burnssssses! Sorry about that. I know it’s not a particularly cromulent word. I just kind of like it in a weird way, despite of, or perhaps indeed because of, its non-cromulentness. Won’t do it again, though. Promise. ETA: Can I still keep “amazeballs”? ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/36 "2017-06-30T01:40:58Z")
I believe the correct word for the state of being non-cromulent is non-cromulentude. Now let’s all run away before the descriptivists get here. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/37 "2017-06-30T01:42:12Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Sorry about that. I know it’s not a particularly cromulent word. I just kind of like it in a weird way, despite of, or perhaps indeed because of, its non-cromulentness. > > Won’t do it again, though. Promise. > > ETA: Can I still keep “amazeballs”? You can keep…that…word as long as you never share it with anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/38 "2017-06-30T02:04:28Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > ETA: Can I still keep “amazeballs”? Yes but only if you promise that you will only use it ironically. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/39 "2017-06-30T14:43:33Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > ETA: IANAcoin-into-engine-thrower. That does seem stupid. I tend to limit myself to fountains. How do you get a fountain into an engine? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114/40 "2017-06-30T14:44:38Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > I believe the correct word for the state of being non-cromulent is non-cromulentude. > > Now let’s all run away before the descriptivists get here. The correct word is “acromulescent”. Or, at least, should be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/airline-passenger-throws-coin-into-airplane-engine-for-good-luck/790114.md?page=3)