How an 80-year-old Chinese woman stopped a giant airplane with money.

Casey Baseel reports:

… On July 27, Qui was at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport where she was scheduled to hop on a flight for Guangzhou with her husband, daughter, and son-in-law. Rather than entering the aircraft through a jet bridge that connects the gate and aircraft, the passengers for the 12:40 p.m. China Southern Airlines flight boarded from the tarmac.

Before getting aboard, Qiu said a quick prayer for a safe flight. Lots of travelers no doubt do something similar, but Qui then decided to punctuate her divine request by throwing a handful of coins towards the plane’s exposed engine intakes, ostensibly under the not-incorrect logic that the properly working engines are an essential part of air travel safety.

While eight of the nine coins Qiu tossed ended up falling back on the tarmac, a single disc, in what you could arguably call either a lucky or unlucky toss, found its way into the engine’s internal mechanisms. Thankfully, the problem was noticed before takeoff, and all of the roughly 150 passengers were removed from the plane while a safety inspection took place. The procedure ended up taking over five hours, with the plane finally on its way at 6:16 p.m. … (read more)

via SoraNews24