Coin-throwing granny joins ranks of weird flight hazards, from dirty dancer to drunk pilot
When an 80-year-old Chinese woman delayed a domestic flight from Shanghai this week by throwing coins into an engine for good luck, the incident joined the ranks of weird reasons for delayed, aborted or cancelled flights around the world.
Here are some other bizarre examples.
Passengers rebel against drunk pilot
Passengers in Moscow demanded that the pilot for their Aeroflot flight to New York be removed because he was drunk. The first sign of trouble came when the pilot slurred his words during the pre-flight announcement, The Moscow Times said in February 2009. At a time when Aeroflot’s reputation was already at rock-bottom due to a series of safety incidents, one passenger told the newspaper: “The first thought that occurred to me was, ‘This guy is drunk’. His speech was so slurred it was hard to tell what language he was speaking.” The pilot emerged from the cockpit of the Boeing 767 red-faced with bloodshot eyes and appeared unsteady on his feet. The crew was replaced and the flight later departed safely.
Fiery curry powder sparks smoke alert
An Air India passenger jet heading to Frankfurt was forced to return to Mumbai after a bag of curry powder set off smoke and fire alarms. Pilots on the Boeing 747 activated fire extinguishers after receiving a cockpit warning about a fire in the cargo hold in June 2009. But on the plane’s return to India engineers said the alert had been triggered by a leaking bag containing curry powder. The bag was removed before the plane took off again after a 12-hour delay.